|
|
|
 Mandtao Blog Links page |
When I started this blog I was unsure where it was going. It was about man, science, knowledge ... But now it is clear. This blog is a developmental blog concerned with the "Path of Scientific Enquiry". I just finished the Treatise which led up to an understanding of path. Once I reached that understanding spirimuse told me path of scientific enquiry. This requires much investigation, and that will occur here. My main blog discussing compassionate awareness (mainly Buddhism and Political Analysis) is Zandtao, and there is my education blog, Matriellez. To get to the current versions of these blogs use these links and not the links below - unless you want the tag clouds or categories. |
6/8/18 My main work so far is the The Treatise of Zandtao - I completed it in May this year. Since September 13 my writing has also developed away from mainly blogging to include the sci-fi books of Wai Zandtao. The mandtao path, Path of Scientific Enquiry is my main non-fiction direction at the moment. Sept 2013 
At the moment (Sept 2013) my primary writing focus is Zandtao, this is my website containing the Treatise, and my main blog. Three years ago I began working on the Treatise, a book that summarises any teachings about the spiritual Path that I propose. Over the years I had been writing science fiction stories, and I have started using the name Wai Zandtao for those. Before retiring I was a teacher so my first writing had to be about the appallling system that masquerades for education. This led to a book by Matriellez (unfinished), the name I use for my writings on education. There is a current Matriellez blog, and there were some older writing when I was developing the book. Towards the end of my teaching my health was a struggle, and I thought that when I retired that would improve. I thought the lifestyle of teaching was why I wasn't that fit but it was far more than that. I developed GERD, was advised to diet, began following a macrobiotic eating approach, and became a natural health advocate. My main blog has many health blogs - there is a health page on it, I started Ginsukapaapdee - Eating Healthily in Thailand. In the corporatocracy we live in (BigFood and BigPharma), eating healthily has to be a part of the Path to avoid the toxins that will limit spiritual development and clear thinking, it is therefore part of the Zandtao Treatise. Part of clear thinking is also an understanding of the life we live and the political constraints placed on that. We live in a corporatocracy where the greed of the few impacts on all aspects of our lives. At this current moment in time these corporatocrats are the source of the suffering in the world. I try not to get too drawn into that suffering as it takes away from the peace that can be enjoyed, but without a clear political understanding that peace is hard. So politics is also a part of the main blog, but there were also earlier writings in the STC blog. Over these retirement years I have studied some books deeply, to such an extent I wrote bookblogs about them as I studied. Check below. |
|
The following is out-of-date, and is too much to update. It is about my blogs and the nest way to navigate the blogs is the tag cloud, but there is so much that is not so good. If it is not in the Treatise, you're not likely to be able to find it. Below might help. The above is an overview of my writings but does not help with particular issues and does not take you through the maze of writings on websites and blogs. To do that I am going to go into detail in the following headings:- |
 Path Health
Corporatocracy
Education
Bookblogs |
|
Path I discuss the Path in my main blog with a new approach in Mandtao. I describe myself as a Buddhist, although some might not. Throughout the main blog I discuss Path and Buddhism, and there were many more blogs in Nature Insights blog; all are listed on this page. Currently I am a fervent follower of Ajaan Buddhadasa (Tan Ajaan), and there is a Tan Ajaan page on my main blog. Tan Ajaan was a "slave to the Buddha" - the meaning of his name, so his discussions revolve around the texts and the Pali but I believe he has gone beyond dogma. He describes Idapaccayata as the Buddha God and sees anatta as the way to Nirvana. As yet I haven't studied Idapaccayata but his discussion of anatta opened my eyes and is discussed often on the Tan Ajaan page. Early contact with Tan Ajaan's Handbook for Mankind here (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Adyashanti also focuses on no-self, and I have discussed him several times - check tag cloud Adyashanti. Meditation is the most important practise so here are observations about meditation; see tag cloud meditation (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 5, 6). For me Insight is the most significant process to learning - check category Insight. There is a page in the main blog as well as a category insight (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Thoughts on mindfulness - see category MCN (mindful Consumer Network) and tag cloud mindfulness (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 9) Enquiry - K talks about complete freedom from ideas. This means constant questioning, a kind of questioning that comes from the 4 Agreements. See tag cloud enquiry and 1. From a non-Buddhist point of view I often quote "The Four Agreements" - check tag cloud "4Agreements". Warning:- Before I begin any guide I have to describe an intellectual faith (faith in a set of ideas) that I have now rejected - rebirth or reincarnation. I believed, note belief and not understanding, that the Path involved several lifetimes in which a notion of me was reborn in order to improve. Since beginning to understand anatta, I have eschewed that belief although it is prevalent in the blogs. I will not be referring to these blogs. In addition I did a bookblog about Sogyal Rinpoche in which I often discussed reincarnation. I have not included this bookblog because it is my understanding that he exploited women and I therefore have doubts about his teaching - I have not removed the blogs but will not be referencing him. I began my spiritual discussions in the Nature Insights blog - I cannot tag these as I ran this blog from my website but there is a significant index here. Sila - moral integrity - was what I started with. Sila is the primary platform of a Buddhist, without sila there is no understanding - even though I rarely discuss it now - see tag cloud sila (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Attachment and addiction are the basis of understanding anatta. I was addicted as an alcoholic, and repleced this with all kinds of attachment - see tag cloud anatta (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22). Throughout discussions on the Path I attack intellectualism - starting with my first blog! It is not intellect but self's misplaced attachment to intellect and the misplaced importance, often arrogance, that gets added to the processes of intellect, especially as the institution of academia. Understanding the Path comes when we go beyond reason, dogma, faith and intellect - see tag cloud intellect (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). At different stages I have looked at chakras - see tag cloud chakra (and 1, 2, 3, 4). For me chakras are not about faith, as I experience them; don't people need to understand their own relationship with chakras? Oneness, that I call ONE planet, that might be called Gaia is so important, it has a ONE planet page;  ONE the movie. This could also be considered Nature, often discussed re Tan Ajaan. Some earlier links (1, 2, 3, 4). See page ONE planet and category ONE planet. One of the reasons I stuck to Theravada Buddhism to begin with was Tradition. Thinking about tradition is important. See tag cloud tradition, and 1, 2. The most influential social factor on my life was the 60s. I was a teenager in the 60s, so the 60s themselves passed me by. When I hit bottom at the end of 1974, my awakening was to people who had learned in the 60s - see tag cloud hippy (and 1, 2, 3). There was a series of blogentries on death, but be careful some presume reincarnation. Death as a guide is worth considering, would you change what you do if you know you will die tomorrow? See tag cloud death (and 1, 2, 3, 4). For a while I looked into Zen, primarily through Brad Warner - although later Adyashanti; I still read Brad Warner. See tag cloud Zen (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). In my 20s I looked into theosophy for a year. It helped but it seemed like a church with a strong contingent of faithful old people. Tag - theosophy (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). A brief look at Ascension - tag Ascension (1, 2, 3). After theosophy I began questioning "masters" in general, and gurus. If you find such who are good for you - well and good, but there are many out there who show weakness. If there is weakness, can you truly devote yourself to them? For a while I read Sogyal "Rinpoche", then stopped because he exploits vulnerable women - as far as I can tell. In those referenced I discussed why they were weak, judge for yourself. See tag cloud gurus (and 1, Bhagwan2, 3, 4, Sai Baba5). I don't like to characterise Krishnamurti with the same weakness as say the Bhagwan or Sogyal "Rinpoche", but he did have lifetime relations with a friend's wife (1, 2, 3, 4). |
|
Health For most of my adult life I had been vegetarian for vague reasons, but this did not prevent me from coming down with GERD a year after I retired. I visited a Natural Health clinic, and they told me diet. I checked out what he said, and it appeared to be like macrobiotics. This is when I began my Natural Health blog. I sought advice on macrobiotic mailing lists and other mb online, and I began the blog as a record of how I coped with the diet and the changes I went through - see tag cloud "diet" and "mb". Other tags for phases in the diet are "pH balance", "detox" and "probiotics". Diet(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12):- 1) mb (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) 2) detox (1, 2). 3) pH Balance (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) 4) probiotics (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) 5) Energy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) 6) Meditation (1, 2, 3). 7) Personal health issues (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ). > Throughout Paul Pitchford's book "Healing through Whole Foods" became a bible for dealing with causes through correct eating; this would be THE book I recommend buying. (1, 2, 3). > These are relevant blogs about health background and concerns before the diet 1 and 2. Soon after I started the diet I realised that living in Thailand and trying an mb diet was difficult, not only did I need to come to terms with mb eating I also had to come to terms with how to get the foodstuffs in Thailand. So I started this blog, "Eating Healthily in Thailand". (1). Once I began to come to terms with my healing, I began to consider the issue of the politics of food and health. So many nutritional and macrobiotic people draw attention to the intentional policy of BigFood and BigPharma to cause ill health. See category BigFood BigPharma and (and 1, 2) A specific issue that became more and more prevalent was cancer, and how this disease appears to be created and exploited by BigFood and BigPharma - see tag "cancer" (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). |
|
Corporatocracy An understanding of the corporatocracy we live in is essential to a peaceful life. To some extent I had done this in this STC blog, but recognising this need for political awareness was much more integral to the new main blog. Politically for a long time I had been aware of the manipulation of balance. British politics is presented as being balanced between left and right. Now I know this was a crock. Labour has never been left-wing, but the movieLifting the Veil clearly dispels this myth. What is very important to understand is that the world over politicians in power are puppets, whether left or right, democrat or republican. It is a design that power oscillates between these two spun poles, and that no-one who will threaten the power of the corporatocracy will ever get into power - see tag cloud "corporatocracy" (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). This corporatocracy has two wings, those who profit through finance and those who profit through war; they are two sides of the same coin. Category Finance (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ) Category War (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) Significant in the way the corporatocracy maintains control are strategies or subterfuges, publicly one way in reality another - see tag "strategy" (and 1, 2, 3). Pretending we have a democracy is one such strategy as discussed in Lifting the Veil - see category "democracy" (and 1, 2, 3, 4). Peace of mind only comes with ongoing struggle, recognising mindful consuming and avoiding compromise if possible. Whistleblowers are courageous people who initially compromised but through awareness learnt the need to expose the truth. Category Struggle(and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) Tag whistleblower (and 1, 2). Category Mindful Consuming(and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). Around the time of this developed awareness Occupy started - see tag cloud "Occupy", the only comparative movement is the 60s - see tag cloud "hippy" (1). Beginning the blog I focused on the establishment subterfuge of presenting those who see the truth as conspiracy theorists - apparently crazy; much that is conspiracy is wise and true - not all. See tag "conspiracy" (and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) |
|
Education Along with Buddhism my retirement writing began with education. Apart from careerism and profiteering my main reason for retiring was the chasm between what I wanted to do, and what I was doing as a teacher. I started with Buddhism but very quickly educational stress took over leading to the unfinished book "Educating for Nature - On Love, Home and Education: A Personal Journey through Schooling" under the name Matriellez. As Matriellez I also write an education blog now. The purpose of the new education blog is to develop themes for finishing the book - it is not active. |
|
Bookblogs At various stages of retirement studying I found that I was focussing on certain books, in the end I decided to write bookblogs - blogs specifically about the books I was reading. The first book I studied was "A Course in Miracles" ending up with this warning. It is an enticing course that to me massages the ego. Universe in a Single Atom, developed here. Pirsig "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance" discussed 1, 2 and 3. Lila - An Inquiry into Morals 12/12/09 |
| Books:- Treatise, Wai Zandtao Scifi, Matriellez Education. |
| Blogs:- Matriellez, Zandtao. |
