#eight fold path

[bodhi-devotee]

i firmly believe that over wards, sigils, spells and veiling, my strongest spiritual protection is the Eight Fold Path. not to say the former aren’t useful; i veil, i ward my space and energy, my other spiritual protections are in place. but nothing shields me from all that wishes to harm me like Right Speech, Action, Livelihood & Thought— Right Mindfulness & Concentration— and Right Effort and Understanding. it is my refuge above all refuge 💞

[bodhi-devotee]

What buddhist deity you include in your practice

this is an interesting question, thank you :) i’ve prayed and offered to the Buddha from the beginning of my pagan practice. not as a deity, but as a spirit guide or a deified hero. i have started calling out to “any brahma, deva, dharmapala or bodhisattva that desires to grant me aid” in my prayers and offerings. i’m in no rush to find the exact name of whatever spirits or deities will be best for my worship— i plan to walk this path for the rest of my life, so i have the rest of my life to figure it out.

when i first started practicing the buddhist path, before my syncretism with paganism, it was from a secular perspective! i didn’t believe in samsara, the different realms, deities or spirits, just the Four Noble Truths and Eight Fold Path— it was hellenic polytheism that made me feel the ancient spirits i knew were in play in this world were accessible to me. that there are cosmic forces much greater than us that can be invoked. my interactions with buddhist cosmological figures has been limited for this reason, but i’m excited for it to grow! thanks for the ask :P

[bodhi-devotee]

“in the lotus sutra, the buddha states something along the lines of "if a person needs an arhat to be saved, i will appear in the form of an arhat" and proceeds to list down several other forms they might take to save someone, right down to "if they need a common person to be saved, then i will appear in the form of a common person." […] so to me this means buddhism accepts contexts.

it doesn't require you to do 180,000 prostrations, it doesn't require you to be a perfect peerless meditative god, it doesn't require you anything that you cannot do at all.”

- a beautiful excerpt from user @tagamantra & a perfect explanation for why buddhism feels like home

[ingebird]

Stress and Anger

I decided the best way for me to survive the rest of 2020 is to #1. Meditate #2. Dance #3. Swear. Trying to follow the Eight-Fold Path is really hard for me these days, especially the "right speech" part. I find myself getting pissed off more often. Abraham Hicks would say I am attracting these experiences because I subconsciously am looking for them. When I say humans are rude and selfish, I see evidence of that when I am out in public. I know feeling anger is bad for me. I want to change that, so I came up with a plan. I will meditate more and take time out through the day to check-in how I am feeling. I understand that I cannot control the behavior of others but I can control how I respond. Dancing has always been a good outlet for relieving stress. There was a time I could dance in a gay club for hours non-stop. Gay clubs in San Francisco, where I lived at the time, played the best dance music and no one bothered me. I don't live in The City anymore and my balance issues prevent me from going to a club to dance but I can hang on to the back of a chair at home, and shake my booty, to Disco music of course. When I was diagnosed with the c-word in 2010, swearing became my default language. It helped me deal with the pain. There is even a study that confirms it. https://www.wired.com/…/the-science-of-why-swearing-physic…/ I am no longer in pain but swearing does help me feel better. I was never one to bottle up my feeling anyway. None of these are listed in the eightfold path but they are helping me right now. How about you? How do you handle your stress and anger?

[lonelinessfollowsme]

By the Numbers: Eight! 8 bits in a byte 8 fold path 8 directions on a compass What did 0 say to 8? "Nice belt."

[mydmteaisgettingcold]

[sammasankappa]

Cursive practice.

[lettherebemonsters]

Confirmation that War is indeed a Chaos Space Marine.