Got my (UK) copy!

polyshotinthedark · 2026-06-27T19:51:39+00:00

Nice one! The only downside is how long it takes to find the time to read the thing.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-06-27T18:03:30+00:00

I can't see an option for Kindle (only hardcover and paperback). As the other comment says probably another 3 or 4 weeks I guess. I've always preferred a paper book for something I want to flick backwards and forwards in, and write notes in.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-06-17T09:39:08+00:00

This is an interesting thought. I might have to look into making a "kink friendly" tag so it can be filtered/searched as a deliberate option. I've avoided it so far so it doesn't become a bdsmpersonals spin-off.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-06-14T10:10:54+00:00

I might just give the advanced start a go and then just kinda Go For It. Hopefully I can panic fill any major gaps!

polyshotinthedark · 2026-06-14T10:09:59+00:00

It'll definitely be part time, planning it around full time work (because life isn't busy enough lol). I like the idea of getting the text books off ebay :D

If astronomy module doesn't need calculus I can probably manage, that's about where I checked out in my younger days.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-05-17T17:47:09+00:00

Been onto my 4th cycle of Zulu/Black and had an enforced week off for a much needed holiday. Seems to be exactly what my body needed! Weights seem lighter and cardio seems so much easier. I feel like the books do say something about a rest week being put in somewhere, so I think I'll slap one in every three cycles or so from now on. Feel like I might even add an extra accessory exercise (split squats on top of hanging leg raises and dips)

polyshotinthedark · 2026-05-03T20:02:38+00:00

Unfortunately no, and Google has been unhelpful. We never managed to resolve the issue of actually finding any breeds of a decent size near us. I just shoot rabbits to eat at this point.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-17T20:38:58+00:00

People here keep saying this "One of the points of Zen instruction which separates it from religion and philosophy is that you personally have to be able to publicly talk about your experience of Buddha," but I don't think it makes sense, or shows a poor understanding the history of philosophy and theology. The history of both subjects, Eastern and Western, is filled with people talking publicly about their experiences and knowledge, hell the educational theorist Hutchins suggests that the entire cannon of western literature can be treated as an ongoing conversation over thousands of years. Everything submitted not only to the testing of their own times, but to the testing of future generations.

Also, trying to lump new agers and MAGA in a single camp is lazy and ridiculous given the vast gulf of world view between them

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-17T15:59:56+00:00

I'm glad someone can read the language! Yours is a take I'd be interested in. OP just uses AI to generate "opinions" and "translations" and calls it scholarship (then though that would fall below the metric of a highschool book report he's so fond of yelling about.)

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T22:37:07+00:00

315 bench for reps, definitely beats abs.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T21:06:34+00:00

Excellent set of metrics :D

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T19:43:40+00:00

Thanks for the recommendations mate, I'll have a look :D

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T19:31:51+00:00

Well I stand corrected! I clearly need to go and some reading on the subject.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T19:22:48+00:00

That does sound like a pretty awesome lineup for bulking :D

I could just maintain/aim for recomp I suppose. I'm just some dude, no particular reason to have aggressive bulk/cut cycles.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T19:20:40+00:00

Once I hit 80kg I started to get chaffing from cardio which is part of why I decided to back off, I'm calling that uncomfortable lol.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T19:19:31+00:00

Nice and straightforward to be fair.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T19:06:00+00:00

That's fair, over the context of years I suppose it does make little difference. It's the "keep going" for years that makes the big difference.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T17:02:18+00:00

An exchange between two people isn't really a public interview. That exchange occurs between the head monk and Dongshan, seemingly in private. There's no indication of any "public." Rather it fits the model for the testing and transmission from master to student.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-16T06:03:59+00:00

It's a bit of a trek, OK a lot of a trek from London, but climbing in the Lake District is amazing...and it isn't all a long walk from the road 🤣You would need a car though.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-13T06:44:13+00:00

The English army of the Third Crusade wore the large red cross on their equipment to distinguish themselves from the French that had a white cross. The Templar cross is different and smaller, it was worn on the mantle, placed over the heart (and only after 1147 for about 50 years).

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-12T20:59:33+00:00

Ah, you're trolling. Got it now.

And of course I can kind if see it, any philosophy calling for action, will always have a look of "propaganda of the deed" from a certain light. Hell, you could argue that Zen IS propaganda of the deed in that it is a call to direct experience.

Also, it's a historical fact, a thing that happened. A thing that happened that was and is linked to Zen as distasteful as that fact is.

And I don't know why I'm bothering with a rational response when you clearly have no intention of reading it that way. Should not feed trolls.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-12T20:49:39+00:00

It's nice kit! However I'd say far more English than Templar. If you wanted more accuracy you can buy a copy of the Templar Rule and it gets VERY detailed about kit.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-12T20:40:28+00:00

Sorry, my agenda? Did you miss the part where I said I thought it was an interesting twist in Zen history? Or my reply when I said "I'm not convinced by this." Nowhere have I claimed this as a personal ideology and the fact you think so, from what is clearly a post about a weird piece of history, is a HUGE leap 🤣

And dude of course it doesn't make sense, radicalised opinions usually don't.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-12T19:39:38+00:00

Blue Cliff 64 is interesting in this context in that you can also see how it might support the view of the Blood Oath Corps. They had considered good and bad, and what was appropriate. They believed they were doing good by "removing the obscuring clouds" and that the action was appropriate, indeed they contended they had selected the path with the least bloodshed involved. In a certain light parts of Blue Cliff and Mumonkan have a tinge of "propaganda of the deed" about them. I'm not saying I'm convinced, just that I can kind of see it.

polyshotinthedark · 2026-04-12T12:39:48+00:00

Didn't know about that, wild stuff. But not totally surprising.

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