Discuss a quote

[Cloudwindgate]

I just wanted to share this quote with you all



:Aang: A Lion Turtle. Maybe you can help me. Everyone, even my own past lives are expecting me to end someone's life, but I don't know if I can do it.

    Lion Turtle: The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can touch the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light.

[Dazon50]

I went this afternoon & watched the movie.  I liked it & now am more curious about the series you mentioned.

I found it to be enlightening.  I liked the quote on emotions & water.  There is a lot of depth to it...worth looking more into.

[Cloudwindgate]

I love anime :D

*more response went into a message*

[painbrain]

I am having a horrible day on so many levels, which is annoying because I want to ask you some more questions about some of your art, and I also had more questions about the avatar series, but I am kind of feeling like a total zombie right now and I can't make my brain work the way I want it to in order to understand what words to use to ask the questions.

IDK, I am super "down" and need to go hide in the dark for awhile to process my feelings and thoughts about "life" today, so I though I would start watching some of the episodes on Anime Fuel, I think it will be neat to watch in the dark anyway, so that way I will also know more about the story so I can ask you the right questions when my brain starts working again.  
hopefully I will get some sleep tonight, (fingers AND toes crossed) and I will be able to think again once tonight turns into tomorrow.

Until then my new friends, I am off to devour some anime   : )

[Cloudwindgate]

WoW Leave it to you to turn up info on stuff drazon

DO NOT GO WATCH THE MOVIE!!!!!!!! IT *****  

instead watch the animated version way way way better. The movie only covers the first book and it barly does that

http://www.animefuel.com/category/a/avatar-the-last-airbender here you can watch them


from what ive read of these post I think i do want to read

Bhagavat Gita

[painbrain]

******I think we are in the times of great "outpouring".  A real change isappening....old/new....dark/light.....choosing is ours.******

I think that is kind of a universal truth too.  No matter what religion or spiritual background we come from, a lot of our experiences in life are shaped and affected not by what we encounter on our path, but how we CHOSE to interact with it while we are occupying the same space.

I can be walking down a path on a hot humid day and run into a popsicle stand, this could totally make my day if I enjoy ending my day with a shard  frozen fruit juice.

I can be walking down that same path 50 years later under towering old growth fir trees whose limbs are heavily weighted with a thick comforter of snow and feel warm and safe walking through the tunnel created by the canopy of fir-needles and a blanket of sound muffling snow.  Have you ever felt that "quietness" of the first big snowstorm of the winter?  When everything in the forest just kind of takes on the feeling of a Domed Chapel, or an empty concert hall.  

The sense of being completely enveloped by the fluffy white comforter of snow made entirely from infinitely smaller micro-particles of water in a solid matter state, is a COMPLETELY different one than the experience of a popsicle on a hot and sweaty day.

Yet both at the root are the same activity.  Walking down a path  through a beautiful old-growth forest while encountering just one element, water.

We can have very different experiences, thousands of them, maybe even millions of ways to experience frozen water, even if our minds are telling us there is nothing new here, its just the same old path you walk every day.

In some Asian Indian religious systems, especially those that were influenced a lot by Buddhism, the world we are mentally and physically present in most of the time does not really exist the way we think it does.  That the world of matter, meaning things made of different combinations of the four elements, is an illusion, kind of like how humans dream, but not completely, more like if god was a giant brain and our world was its dreams, with us as the actors is gods dream.

Their idea is that what is actually REAL, like what is real to GOD, is the way we can interact with the four elements(all matter).  
Will we walk up to frozen water and find a way to interact with it in our environment that gives us experiences like those in the forest above, or will we look down while walking the path because we think there is nothing new to look at?

I don't know if that makes a whole lot of sense without some background on what Buddhists would call "Maya"  Maya is the "stuff" that makes up the illusion of the world of matter(stuff composed only of 4 elements, excluding what is called Akasha, which is explained really well in the post above.

I don't know what do you guys think?  I am not sure if that analogy really "fits" with the idea that  
**************** I think we are in the times of great "outpouring".  A real change is happening....old/new....dark/light.....choosing is ours. *********************************

[Dazon50]

I like your verbal "vomitting"...:-)  Thinking is great!!!  The mind is such a gift for all the potential that can come forth.

I think we are in the times of great "outpouring".  A real change is happening....old/new....dark/light.....choosing is ours.

[painbrain]

OMG I like this quote even more now that I am reading some of the stuff on the avatar wiki site.

Is this energy bending the same thing in the 3d movie?
I want to see it, but I am afraid I will be dissapointed in the "hollywood" version of what I work so hard to visualize in my meditations.

But I confess, with any and all "fantasy" media, I prefer it in book form so I can come up with my own idea of what a Lion-turtles forest would look like, or feel like on my back.

thats why I like to read old (reaaaaally old) scriptures, because they are better than the best fantasy novel you have ever read! (IMHO)
I have been looking for an excuse to find out more about energy bending because of what I had seen in the movie trailer, but I want to learn as much as possible about it before I see the movie, so that I can come up with my own ideas about "how" the energies are "bent" (is that the right word?) without being locked in to the special effects version.
I know that might sound unusual, but, I am usually dissapointed by the "real" version of things, so with anything I am reading or studying about, I kind of keep it closed off from outside influences until I have my personal idea of how it could work in my head.  I am not sure if that really makes sense to anyone else, but it makes sense to me.

I hope I am not being overwhelming.  I am in a perpetual state of spiritual starvation, so anytime someone lets it "slip" that they might understand my spiritual ramblings (I have a lot of racing thoughts) I sometimes kind of verbal vomit with excitement and that can make people think I am creepy.

So...if you don't think I am creepy, I would love to talk more with you anytime about any of the things on that wiki avatar site.
I also really like talking about the idea of avatars in general, and all the different "things" they could be.
I wish I knew more about energy bending already, because it sounds so far like it makes more sense than most things I deal with! :)
Keep posting quotes when you have one that you like! I think it is fun even just to see all the ways people interpret the quotes, even if I don't end up commenting on them.

[painbrain]

FANTASTIC POST! (yes I am yelling, but happy yelling)

you are really good at finding all the information needed to make what I say relevant!  That is an awesome skill!

And very insightful way to tie it all together if you haven't already done a lot of studying on the concpet of "akasha"

I am pretty much obsessed with it, but I rationalize that with the concept that it pervades all things, so its really like I am some pain addled Holyman(errr, woah-man)  and thats ,much better for my overall mental state,

I believe some of us walk paths we may have walked before, because we missed something along the way last time.  So I really like talking with others who understand the desire to sink under to look like any other island, because those who came after you (in the cyclical nature of time) cannot relate to what it is like to be a lion-turtle existing in the void.

[painbrain]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh

okay, now I like the quote even more.  (rubs hands together in joy and anticipation)

So...energy bending, like, the ability to exert influence on the akasha that animates all animated things composed of the four elements?

[Dazon50]

Hinduism

In Hinduism Akasha means the basis and essence of all things in the material world; the smallest material element created from the astral world. It is one of the Panchamahabhuta, or "five great elements"; its main characteristic is Shabda (sound). In Hindi and Gujarati, the meaning of Akasha is sky.[1]

The Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools of Hindu philosophy state that Akasha or ether is the fifth physical substance, which is the substratum of the quality of sound. It is the One, Eternal, and All Pervading physical substance, which is imperceptible.[2]

According to the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy, Akasha is one of the five Mahābhūtas (grand physical elements) having the specific property of sound.[3]
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Jainism

Akasha is space in the Jain conception of the cosmos. It falls into the Ajiva category, divided into two parts: Loakasa (the part occupied by the material world) and Aloakasa (the space beyond it which is absolutely void and empty). In Loakasa the universe forms only a part. Akasha is that which gives space and makes room for the existence of all extended substances.[4]
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Buddhism

In Buddhist phenomenology Akasha is divided into Skandha, Desa, and Pradesa.[5]

The Vaibhashika, an early school of Buddhist philosophy, hold Akasha's existence to be real.[6]
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Cārvākism

Adherents of the heterodox Cārvāka or Lokāyata philosophy of India hold that this world is made of four elements only. They exclude the fifth element, Akasha, because its existence cannot be perceived.[7]
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Theosophy
Main article: Akashic records

The Western religious philosophy called Theosophy has popularized the word Akasha as an adjective, through the use of the term "Akashic records" or "Akashic library", referring to an ethereal compendium of all human knowledge.
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Modern Paganism

It is believed by many modern Pagans that the Akasha, Spirit, is the Fifth Element. Scott Cunningham describes the Akasha as the spiritual force that Earth, Air, Fire, and Water descend from. Some also believe that the combination of the four elements make up that which is Akasha, and that Akasha exists in every living creature in existence; without Akasha, there is no spirit, no soul, no magic.

The Five Elements are worked with to create positive changes on earth. This is done through meditation to bring about beneficial changes in one’s life. Akashan spirituality is holistic.

Practitioners learn to maintain mental and physical health through meditation, exercise, ritual and diet. They are expected to have a profound commitment to their life path.

The upward point of the pentacle, the pentagram or five pointed star within a circle, represents Akasha. The others represent Fire, Earth, Air and Water. While Earth is considered "north"; Fire is "south"; air is "east"; Water is "west", while Akasha is "center".[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akasha

[Dazon50]

I scanned through the article & found this:

Energybending is similar to the idea of Akasha in Buddhism and Hinduism in that it is the basis of everything in the world even before the four other elements.

[Dazon50]

Makes me think of the Sin Eater in a way.

[Dazon50]

http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Energybending

:-)))  found it!!!  Very interesting.  

[Dazon50]

The Lion Turtle is a very large turtle with the head of a lion and lion-like, clawed feet. The Lion Turtles have existed since the world began and predate even the Avatar. The Lion Turtle possesses timeless wisdom and powerful spiritual energy, retaining knowledge of the ancient art of Energybending. Not all Avatars have met the Lion Turtle; Aang is the first in many ages.

Because the Lion Turtle is so old, an overgrown forest has sprouted on his back. He prefers to stay hidden from the world because, when submerged, he appears like an ordinary island.

They are possibly the original Energybenders, as shown when the Lion Turtle touches Aang's head with one claw and his heart with another, a green light illuminates them, thus granting Aang the ability to Energybend. Aang touched Ozai the same way before Energybending.

......

Is this the one referred to?

[painbrain]

Have you ever read the Bhagavat Gita?
If you are writing a story about religions, and you dig why being a lion turtle would be full of sufffering and "maya" You might really like the Gita.

Its an epic poem about a guy forced to do battle with all of his family members and everything he values in order to live the "lifetime" he is meant to live.

He is a prince who has a chariot driver who is an incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu.
Vishnu helps one live the life they know they need to, but find difficult or painful.  He is a sustaining god, so I like to think about the story when I have to "Do Battle" with myself to make it through the day alive.

Not trying to be pushy, but from your post, I think you could get more out of the Gita than yer average joe.

Anyway.  What is that quote from?  I like it.