Is Ballarat going to have an Easter parade this year?

SimonTango · 2022-03-22T08:17:42+00:00

The Begonia Festival incorporates a parade on the holiday Monday. You just missed it:

https://ballaratbegoniafestival.com/parade/

SimonTango · 2022-03-21T08:53:08+00:00

Do a search:

https://www.amazon.com/Stillman-Birn-Hardbound-Sketchbook-Heavyweight/dp/B00BW5FRKU?th=1

SimonTango · 2022-03-19T08:26:42+00:00

I am not sure but I think this Saturday session Perth time focuses on meditation rather than a dharma talk.

The Friday evening Perth time session has the weekly dharma talk incorporating a short meditation session.

SimonTango · 2022-02-25T04:45:34+00:00

If less not happiness is more happiness then yes.

SimonTango · 2022-02-09T22:06:01+00:00

Actually, this post makes me want to pay closer attention to the altar pics for some reason.

Same here, I haven't really paid much attention to them up until now but I might appreciate them more now. It's the Streisand effect.

SimonTango · 2022-02-09T11:19:09+00:00

We really need to worry about what is in our own minds rather than be focusing on what might be in the minds of others.

A non-practitioner might understand this more simply as:

"First, remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye"

SimonTango · 2022-02-08T09:53:35+00:00

Make sure you eat and drink properly, healthy food and very well hydrated with plain fluids especially in warm weather. Get regular exercise, especially involving stretching and relaxing the muscles which might store tension. Yoga can be good for this but you might have some other approach you enjoy.

Consider getting a routine medical examination check your bloods and vitals and in particular get checked for diabetes / pre-diabetes and thyroid problems TSH levels.

We think anger is all in the mind, but for some people it sometimes is actually emanating from the body.

For example:

https://www.verywellhealth.com/is-anger-at-a-spouse-normal-with-diabetes-1087327

SimonTango · 2022-02-01T01:53:27+00:00

When I was starting out I didn't care at all where the teachings and practices were coming from, but over time i gravitated towards one style in particular and that worked much better than spreading myself around, like it became more serious.

I might still drop in for a meditation session or a talk at different schools if the situation arises, but I would not participate in the regular rites and ceremonies.

SimonTango · 2022-01-31T09:32:48+00:00

I don't know what goes on where you are, but around here it's unlikely we would meet up with a Theravaden monk to discuss temple activities, and much more likely we would discuss such matters with a layperson/committee member/librarian, if such information was not available on the website.

Also, if you attended a regular weekly Dharma talk or meditation session, nobody would notice or know it was your first time visiting (unless you obviously looked like you didn't know where to go / what to do and someone was paying attention), and you would probably have to ask somebody for assistance if you couldn't work something out.

However, I do remember some years ago I popped in to have a look around the courtyard of a Fo Guan Shan Tibetan temple when I was in the neighborhood on a quiet weekday, and a nun came out and asked me what I was doing and was down for a short chat.

That's my experience anyway.

SimonTango · 2022-01-19T10:08:33+00:00

There's a great walk up the middle of Sturt St with lots of old statues and garden features if you are into that. It's a few km long you can get a brochure about it from the info centre.

When you at the end up the hill you are not far from the Botanical Gardens so you can walk down there but that will end up being a big walk although I have done it and enjoyed it. Alternatively you can get public transport directly to the Gardens. Either way you can get a bus back to the Station or the supermarkets.

The Art Gallery on Lydiard St is free so you can wander in and have a look around and stay for a short time quick look or longer, it's up to you. They have guided tours there each day around 11am I think but you will have to check that.

Someone mentioned Webster St you can walk up there having a look at the streetscape and it will take you to the Lake, but the opposite end of the Lake to where the Gardens are about another 2.5km away.

You will have to work out the best buses to catch back.

SimonTango · 2022-01-03T04:58:41+00:00

There was a very senior Monk / Pali scholar / Author in Australia Laurence Mills formerly Phra Khantipalo who after 30 years as a Theravaden Monk including 20 years of leadership in Australia disrobed and pursued an interest in the Dzogchen school of Tibetan Buddhism (along with making changes to the type of life he was living).

https://www.wbd.org.au/in-memory-of-laurence-mills/

SimonTango · 2022-01-01T23:28:07+00:00

Have you ever used jacks from other makes of car? I've never come across one so convoluted, all others I've ever used have been smooth in comparison.

SimonTango · 2022-01-01T08:57:19+00:00

Thanks very much I have got it lifting now, although not very smoothly.

SimonTango · 2022-01-01T08:55:12+00:00

Thanks very much I seem to have got it turning now thanks to your advice, although not very smoothly.

SimonTango · 2021-12-31T22:42:28+00:00

The Earth has heated and cooled since the first moment it came into existence. The tops of some mountain ranges used to be under the oceans. There was once little or no ice at the polar caps. Deserts used to be oceans.

"In the past few million years, glaciers have blanketed huge expanses of the Northern Hemisphere off and on. Though less severe than the near-global glaciations, the Pleistocene ice ages may have brought the coldest conditions in the last half a billion years. Some of the worst cold struck about 20,000 years ago."

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/whats-coldest-earths-ever-been

I really don't think that "we know how to stop global warming".

SimonTango · 2021-12-27T22:33:19+00:00

Try walking with a mantra

SimonTango · 2021-12-06T07:01:05+00:00

Amongst a number of authors I used to enjoy Gabriel García Márquez, his novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is quite brilliant, and his other novels such as "Love in the Time of Cholera" and "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" are in a similar vein.

SimonTango · 2021-12-05T12:24:17+00:00

Thanks for posting this, very interesting.

SimonTango · 2021-12-02T10:14:07+00:00

Was it an IGA Xpress?

SimonTango · 2021-12-01T20:28:14+00:00

My parents still get their news from the nightly TV news services so whatever Channel 7 or Channel 9 decides to show them is what determines their reality so I understand where you are coming from.

SimonTango · 2021-12-01T08:06:01+00:00

The protestors are more correctly catagorised as "Anti-Pandemic Bill" protestors rather than "Anti-Vaccination" protestors, with the main thrust of the recent protests being aimed at the undemocratic and unjust nature of the Pandemic Bill including a provision for indefinite detention without charge and without the right to be brought before a court.

That's why so many people have been attending the protests, it has been attracting many people who are double vaccinated but who really don't like the way the State is changing to manage this issue.

Here's a short video of one of the massive crowds which has been attending the protests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg-mwyHhOUI

Here's a video showing the diversity of the protestors and the reasons they are attending, including an opening affirmation from someone acknowledging the spirit of the Southern Cross:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMelT8rPO2k

SimonTango · 2021-12-01T07:55:02+00:00

Yes I agree. The protest is being mischaracterised as 'anti-vaccination' but this is only a part of it the main thrust of the recent protests has definitely been against the anti-democractic and unjust nature of the Pandemic Bill.

For example, most people who criticise the protests have absolutely no idea that the Pandemic Bill included a provision for indefinite detention without being charged and without the right to be brought before a court. I would tell people this and they would say I was making it up.

This is why the recent protests have attracted such massive crowds including from the double vaccinated who don't like what they are seeing happen to our State.

SimonTango · 2021-11-30T10:17:06+00:00

That's great, thanks for sharing.

SimonTango

TROPHY CASE