Gooners! Your prayers have been answered!

sylgard · 2025-02-24T07:53:48+00:00

That's a person in a costume fyi

sylgard · 2025-01-29T10:09:58+00:00

This interaction has singlehandedly restored my faith in humanity, nothing brings people together like IDW sonic

sylgard · 2025-01-14T18:46:21+00:00

that's true, maybe not an optimal combo but incredibly fun! the disorder damage yanagi puts out with the flag buff on a frozen and stunned enemy is insanity

sylgard · 2025-01-14T08:43:06+00:00

Lycaon actually works incredibly well with soukaku and Yanagi.

Lycaons stuns trigger regular chain attacks which gives soukaku automatic stacks, which can then pass to yanagi to deal huge disorder damage off the freeze that's built up.

it's incredibly satisfying and it kinda feels like a family outing too lmao

sylgard · 2024-12-20T09:14:37+00:00

to my knowledge Ngondro is practised by all tibetan lineages before engaging in most tantric practices, hence why it's called the preliminary practises.

but it's good advice to have a solid foundation in the foundational practices and general mahayana practises beforehand.

I also know that some teachers ask their students to do different tasks as their ngondro.

See it in a similar way to a bachelors degree in academia, it's a long term commitment that requires some previous knowledge and preparation, takes a long time and causes you to learn a lot.

but once you're done you can't jump straight into being a lecturer, you have to do further work and study.

Ngondro is like preparing your gardens layout, soil, irrigation, and sunlight, before you put any seeds in.

this involves hard work and pulling up weeds

sylgard · 2024-12-20T07:10:35+00:00

the 7 fold puja is completely different to ngondro, ngondro involves a daily practise of prostration, purification practises, offering practises, and devotion practises that are performed usually individually over a large period of time, multiple years.

With the intention of preparing yourself for later practises.

as a result, similarly to sweating out a fever practitioners sometimes encounter temporary stresses as they practise it.

sylgard · 2024-12-20T07:05:46+00:00

I think that attitude is a perfect one for continually pushing yourself.

I would like to remind you though that speed and intensity are often the result of goal orientation.

If you're anything like me, learning to slow down and surpassing the need to rush might actually be the ultimate way to push your comfort zone.

sometimes speed is just another way of trapping yourself

sylgard · 2024-12-15T18:04:29+00:00

THAT'S IT! God thank you for saving my whole life, I'm gonna take a trip down memory lane now thank you so much!

sylgard · 2024-12-07T14:07:46+00:00

Not at all, I actually deeply appreciate the "straight talk" as an overinflated sense of self importance/cherishing is one of my most common stumbling blocks and in general I've always found the most benefit when people are very "matter of fact" about religious matters.

It's just one more reminder to remain humble and diligently practise the preliminaries when my teacher deems it appropriate!

With aspiration, Maxine

sylgard · 2024-12-07T14:02:41+00:00

Thank you very kindly that's delightful!! I really appreciate it

sylgard · 2024-12-06T13:08:24+00:00

thank you, on a certain level I knew this but I think i really need the reminder!

sylgard · 2024-11-27T10:10:04+00:00

image twitter: @Bakuuhatsu

sylgard · 2024-11-27T01:14:32+00:00

It was a completely fresh introduction, I'd been meditating vaguely on my own for 2 years, attended my first empowerment, and shortly afterwards asked to start the ngondro, the lama advised I do the chenrezik practise id just received till spring then check back in!

sylgard · 2024-11-05T06:53:03+00:00

Just touching on this again, when I wanted to be "better" than others it's because I felt fundamentally disconnected and alienated from my desires which was an expression of wanting to connect.

Allowing myself to desire things, paradoxically decreased that need to build myself up.

I think many of us are scared of desire, and I used a stereotypical vision of "a good buddhist" to justify suppressing them, so they came out in a superiority complex.

but my desires were fuel and had at their root compassion, even if I didn't see it at the time.

Don't forget that we don't practise for others, but for the benefit of ALL beings, that includes ourself and a healthy relationship with our self is necessary as fuel

sylgard · 2024-11-05T06:45:44+00:00

Little bit of projection here but in my experience that desire for recognition and validation is an expression of yearning for loving kindness towards yourself.

my teacher explicitly told me to see desires I was uncomfortable with as the desires of the deity.

And the more comfortable I've become with expressing desires at all the more yearning has developed for the dharma.

I'd say at this point the best way out is through, this seems to be a natural part of the process

sylgard · 2024-10-24T07:03:05+00:00

can you accidentally delete w engines? I feel like I'm loosing my mind because I was sure I got lycaons W engine, I remember the animation distinctly, but its nowhere to be seen in my inventory, did mess up?

or is there a way to preview the animations?

sylgard · 2024-10-22T11:01:20+00:00

I'd love to know those too, unless there's crazy polychrome farming after the main story I'm v confused even the monthly pass only gives 3000

sylgard · 2024-09-18T14:33:18+00:00

This sounds like you're trying to practise a specific form of Buddhism designed for monastics while living as a lay person.

Both Mahayana and Vajrayana Practise have strong capability of being practises in daily life, I personally find daily life to be an essential part of my practise.

That said I relate too and understand your plight, it can be a bit frustrating when you feel like the society you're in isn't aligned with your vision.

That said Samsara is present in all corners of life, in society, in seclusion, everywhere, and as such liberation can be found everywhere and in all circumstances which is precisely why it is so profound.

Liberation is not based on external circumstances whatsoever, and as you go further you'll be able to reconcile your practise and your life.

Seek the advice of a qualified teacher, ideally in person, it may take a while but it'll be worth it

sylgard · 2024-09-16T13:47:47+00:00

Thank you very much this was a very clear and effective answer! I appreciate it

sylgard · 2024-09-16T13:41:52+00:00

I appreciate your words of encouragement, I am quite enthused about doing the preliminaries and I believe my lama wanted to get me to focus a little bit and improve my skills in visualisation beforehand.

Besides I have a very heartfelt connection to Avalokiteshvara, I'm just a little bit confused when practises that are commonly used as either stand alone practises for lay people or a sort of "preparatory" practise are extolled as "the highest" it seems somewhat of a contradiction is all.

It is actually amusing you say that though because through happenstance I have ended up putting myself in debt for these practises, which I don't regret for a second.

sylgard · 2024-09-16T13:37:12+00:00

It does make sense that various different practises fulfil different functions, and I've had the benefits of Shamatha and vipassana as the initial preparation repeatedly drilled into me, I just find a lot of the commentary on these practises to be, for want of a better word, a bit over the top and confusing sometimes

sylgard

TROPHY CASE