Suppose the U.S. stopped making pennies?

[Denny]

Yet few would call what a catholic priest does begging when they pass the plate. I guess this is part of where the language itself and background seemed a hindrance.

I thought that the catholic being so uppity a millennium, or so, back fixed that.

[dwest]

Shouldn't this be on the religious........never mind.

[DCrom]

I'll bet they beg plenty.

Not at all, they do have little alms bowls, but I think they're more followers of Lao-tzu than the Buddha. They don't seem to agree that I'm the boss.

I've had a couple of Siamese (one of my favorite breeds), and they, by contrast, were shameless beggars. And they danced while begging. But I wasn't fooled; dancing with your figurative hand out is NOT busking. If they'd learned to play a harmonica behind an upturned hat, my opinion might have been different.

In general, cats only beg because they are too small to mug you and *force* you to give them the treats.

Though supposedly the Siamese breed were temple cats. Have you considered giving them an alms bowl?

[dwest]

Not at all, they do have little alms bowls, but I think they're more followers of Lao-tzu than the Buddha. They don't seem to agree that I'm the boss.

I've had a couple of Siamese (one of my favorite breeds), and they, by contrast, were shameless beggars. And they danced while begging. But I wasn't fooled; dancing with your figurative hand out is NOT busking. If they'd learned to play a harmonica behind an upturned hat, my opinion might have been different.

In general, cats only beg because they are too small to mug you and *force* you to give them the treats.

Though supposedly the Siamese breed were temple cats. Have you considered giving them an alms bowl?

His experience may be with "modern" Siamese as opposed to traditional Siamese. These modern cats have no respect for traditions.

[Mitch]

I assume that because I am a stick, it is credible to assume that I'm pointing at something.

For myself, i seem to have been born without a credulity, and therefore cannot be pointing at anything outside of the viewer's own head.

I suppose pennies feel the same way.

This is all, of course, very bad for we sticks, pennies and our ilk: Being constructed entirely of illusion, we can be no more than paint on the outer edges of the dome of creation. We can be seen only from the outside, and all within is hollow. And those on the outside .. can only be there in their own illuisions, and therefore have nothing of value to add. Creation, does not see us and no light comes from outside it.

Creation itself eats us as soon as we relax - from the inside of our nothingness to the limit of all things.

Pitty us poor sad sad hollow things.

Alms for an ex-leper? A penny is as good as a dream - any credit will do. And in return? Less than nothing .. I can see you are eager for it
(allow me to point the way)

[kkrell]

Stick, are you a secret writer for Charlie Sheen?

[Mitch]

Stick, are you a secret writer for Charlie Sheen?

A good question Kk ... I can answer it like this:

It is true that all those enlightenned are the Bhuda Because enlightenment is to be at one with the one ness that is all.

All who are not Bhuda are Charlie Sheen.

So .. yes, and no:
No - I am not doing anything secretly.
Yes - I am everything that the Bhuda is not - that is my purpose and Charlie Sheen's purpose - strangely, we write our own scripts with the same hand.

Unfortunately for Charlie, he thinks that he and himself are the same creature .. he's pretty good at it, but he should stop having a stick write his scripts. I am under no such illusion - I KNOW I am a stick, I was created to be a stick so that when I finally dissolve, it will not matter - because it will be only the Bhuda that remains.. And in the mean time - I have more fun than Charlie, because I have no corporeal body or life to maintain .. illusions, as such things are, become the ultimate limitation.

Many thanks for your observation Kk - it gives me insight into the oneness within the separation .. I would never have guessed! The truth is so simple it is often overlooked.

It also follows that all pennies (of all denominations) are also Charlie Sheen. In fooling ourselves that we are what we are-not, what we are trying to not-be still defines us, no matter how good at it we get.

We are all the Bhuda.
Pennies are small disks of metal.

So should the USA stop making pennies?
Yes - they are of no value to the Bhuda.

[Innocent Bystander]

I know what Bhuda means. "We are all Bhuda"? Speak for yourself, ass*.

*Bhuda meaning

[Mitch]

<snigger>
Seduction may lead to progeny, but all spell checkers lead to Charlie Sheen paaartay!!!

[talasiga]

typos are a category of deep error
hiding under the skirt of fumbling fingers ......

[dwest]

Some sticks are in mud. Typos do not detract from the senseless ramblings of dried up gymnosperm xylem even if it be nothing more than a (sigh!) Cad.

[Denny]

tough crowd again today

[dwest]

tough crowd again today

I combed around before waddling out with that last one.

[Nanohedron]

Yet few would call what a catholic priest does begging when they pass the plate.

In one sense, what one calls things is both irrelevant, and revealing. In English language, the Church calls it "tithing". Quaint, neutral, and churchy-sounding, don't you think? Yet you can just as well call it institutionalised panhandling if you like. Is it not that, after all? How it is different from begging rests only on convention, cultural perspective, and apologetics. The fact remains that it is fundamentally the same in purpose as the Theravada Buddhist practice: support, and blessings gained for doing one's part. Anything else is extranea and confusion. Churches get money and, in the past, lots of it; Buddhist monks get a mere bit of food individually. Are business magnates robber barons? Ask your perspective.

Buddhist practice uses the term "pindapata" ("begged food" or "almsrounds"; BTW, which is more accurate? Depends on your taste.), a different word than "begging", which, you might notice, is English, and basically no better than the term of an outsider's perspective. It also bears the flavor of a pejorative, when "alms", a perfectly good English word with venerable and unshakable pedigree, would say it better. In our own languages, we humans tend to look for terms that don't demean our near and dear institutions. We're far less picky when it comes to the exotic, hence IMO the English word "begging" for the Southeast Asian Buddhist practice of alms.

One should take into account, when one is able, the standards that surround such things. Pindapata itself has very strict governing rules: first, that the mendicant is prohibited from begging per se (that is, unlike begging, one may not actively solicit); next, one declines invitations to dine in lay housholds; further, if one gets delicious food, one avoids that house in the future (I'd say that is telling!); one eats only in one spot and not in a wandering fashion; one eats only a measure and does not indulge one's appetite; and one accepts no further food once one has begun eating. So, heaped with austerities as pindapata is, IMO "begging" is entirely a misnomer. It is, however, convenient to the English speaker. Convenience doesn't tell the story about the subject, though; it only tells the story about itself.

Never could figure out the whole thing.

Perhaps "I don't understand all of it" would have been a better use of words.

Now I see. It's not at all uncommon for inclusive phrases like "the whole thing" to get stuck onto sentences like that almost nonsensically in informal speech, when the details are the farthest thing from the speaker's mind. That is how I took your words, thinking I was hearing Minnesotaspeak from a fellow Minnesotan.

[I.D.10-t]

It's the lacking voice inflection thing...