http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/com/2145490396.html  

Enlightenment, Nonduality, Union w/ God…. (Des Plaines)
Date: 2011-01-05, 3:28PM CST

If you want to see whats behind the curtain of reality, to take the red pill and discover what the Matrix really is, have meditated before and can continue to do so, want Union with God, have a inner yearning for Absolute truth…….  

Come meet with me and we can discuss more. Am in town only for one week and leaving shortly after the 9th-10th. All discussions afterward are phone based, email based, and I come back here every 2 months or so.  

Also, be advised if you are simply a window shopper or see this as a curiosity, then please don’t waste both our times. This is intended for that person that is willing to give up everything to find out the truth and experience God. The cost to see, is literally all of you, yet thankfully you are not what you think yourself to be. If you would be willing to leave “everything” to know God …then this is for you. Everything being your materialism, your psychological addictions, your very own identity, your life long programming/brainwashing, even your family and friends ……sometimes this is required and thankfully is the filter that keeps the window shoppers out and the serious seekers in.  
Mysticism, Nonduality, Advaita Vedanta, Dzogchen, Buddhism, Desert Fathers, Christian Mysticism, Sufism, Plato, Socrates, Epedocles, etc

I like this one better:

vancouver, BC craigslist >  vancouver >  personals >  men seeking men  

looking for guys in 30/40s into psychology/philosophy /Nonduality/stuff like that
please send a picture and some other writers of that stuff that you like
just looking for people interested in that stuff  

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/m4m/2138614466.html

I watched the DVD of Calling It Quits and it’s good! It’s a true nonduality movie for the mainstream. The movie is very well acted and funny. They even use the word nonduality in the film.

It’s a simple story about a guy’s search for happiness. It’s as close to Hollywood meets nonduality as there has been.

This is a “must” movie for those who enjoy seeing how nonduality is entering the cultural mainstream and for those who want a introduction to the teaching of nonduality. It is certainly for anyone who is doing some suffering over deep dissatisfactions with life or a broken heart. First and last, however, it’s a well-made movie.

Decide for yourself. You can watch the trailer and learn more about the film by clicking here.

Also, use this exclusive code ciq2010 at checkout and in addition to the premier offer with bonus extras, you’ll also get a special discount.

Jerry Katz

Across the Universe
(Lennon, McCartney)

Words are flying out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting through my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Nothing’s gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva

9PM EST on FOX: American Idol

8PM EST on PBS: The Buddha

Premiering April 7, 2010 at 8 p.m. EST (check local listings)

This documentary for PBS by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere, tells the story of the Buddha’s life, a journey especially relevant to our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion. It features the work of some of the world’s greatest artists and sculptors, who across two millennia, have depicted the Buddha’s life in art rich in beauty and complexity. Hear insights into the ancient narrative by contemporary Buddhists, including Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S. Merwin and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Join the conversation and learn more about meditation, the history of Buddhism, and how to incorporate the Buddha’s teachings on compassion and mindfulness into daily life.

The Buddha, A Film by David Grubin

The store had depth and mystery with framed photos of strange gurus on the walls, customers sitting in full lotus in order to “be in” in the atmosphere, and odd, obscure books appealing to the very few.

But times changed.

A few years later it became like, “Hi Guys, welcome to the Bodhi Tree. Our special today is any Kundalini book for five dollars!”

The best days of my life were spent in the Bodhi Tree. Or, rather, driving my ’69 Charger (green with a black vinyl top) from Santa Monica up to the Bodhi Tree, exploring the used and new book stores, buying a few things, maybe picking up one of the free books they often gave away, then dropping into Pinks for a chili dog (sometimes I’d be the only one there), purchasing a good cigar on Fairfax, and taking a long drive back home, leaving behind exhaust and cigar smoke.

If I had all those books and that ’69 Charger today … I’d be rich and happy.

Goodbye Bodhi Tree. There was one small section in your used bookstore that I used to enjoy looking at so I bought all the books in the section. I still have them. Goodbye.

http://www.laweekly.com/content/printVersion/854822

Farewell to the Bodhi Tree Bookstore
Old friend set to close this year

By Gendy Alimurung
published: February 11, 2010

The founding owners of the Bodhi Tree Bookstore are dealing with the closure of their L.A. institution as only spiritualists can. “In our best Buddhist sense, we try to incorporate the idea that things always change,” says Phil Thompson, who, along with Stan Madson, opened the Bodhi Tree 40 years ago. Through the years, their cozy Melrose Avenue shop became a nationally known, much beloved center for Buddhists, astrologers, psychics, yogis, swamis, acupuncturists, naturists and others seeking enlightenment.

Thompson and Madson decided to sell the property to a local business owner who leases space to several other nearby retailers. The store will be closed within a year, they say.

Making the choice was grueling. “This wasn’t a weekend decision where we got out the I-Ching and tossed the coins,” Thompson says.

The history of the Bodhi Tree is, in a sense, a history of L.A. The space was once a costume shop. Before that, it was a house. In those days, the hulking blue Pacific Design Center was a lumberyard, and the fancy furniture stores were gas stations, butcher shops and delicatessens.

In time, hotels and apartments replaced humble single-family bungalows. The 1994 Northridge earthquake scared the Bodhi Tree’s next-door neighbors into moving away. Thompson and Madson bought the neighbor’s property and added a Bodhi Tree annex.

Property values in the area have risen sharply over the years, leading to one of the many quintessentially Los Angeles geographic ironies: The spiritual center where you can learn to divest yourself of all materialism is currently located across the street from chichi boutique Kitson — a favorite of Hollywood ingénues — and a store hawking $10,000 bathtubs.

The neighborhood has indeed grown pricey. Thompson and Madson paid $650,000 for the two properties. The land and structure’s current assessed value is $2.7 million (their real estate agent will not disclose the pending-sale price).

Thompson and Madson were aerospace engineers at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica before starting the store in their 30s, abandoning a life of science for one of contemplation and meditation.

As aerospace engineers, he and Madson worked on weapons of mass destruction. “We basically figured out how to make them more destructive,” Thompson says. “Missiles in space. That’s what we did.”

But the two men reached their limit at “the thermonuclear-war part,” Madson says. “We said, ‘We don’t want to do that.’ ”

Their bookstore filled a need, the men found. People were asking, “Who am I? What am I doing? Where is my life going? What are we really doing here?”

The two are now in their early 70s. They speak slowly. Madson is more reticent. Thompson has a slyer sense of humor.

Characteristics of the engineer persist in them, however, as they deconstruct the architecture of the Bodhi Tree’s breakdown.

Their book sales have been declining for 15 years. The material they sell was once hard to find, giving the Bodhi Tree a strong presence in a niche market. But over the years, that material has grown in popularity, and gone mainstream. In a way, they have proselytized themselves out of business.

“Twenty years ago we felt like it was an expanding situation,” Madson says. “We were concerned the store was getting too big. We had a staff of 100. Publishing was expanding. Spirituality was expanding. But what changed was that the market became widely dispersed.”

“We’re no longer the only place in half the country that has this material,” Thompson adds.

Books on Wicca and Santeria and Native American shamanism used to be tough to find. Now every Borders and Barnes & Noble carries them. What can’t be bought at a brick-and-mortar shop can undoubtedly be found online, inexpensively. Madson quotes a figure: 50 percent of all spiritual books sold in the U.S. are bought on Amazon.com.

Another blow came when international shipping rates rose. People who ordered from overseas defected to Amazon, which could save on rates by shipping from its various branches around the globe.

As if that weren’t enough, the Bodhi Tree’s parking situation deteriorated. When the area incorporated into West Hollywood, most of the surrounding streets became “permit only.” Customers stopped coming literally overnight.

The men are hazy on exactly when that took place. “It’s not one of the pleasant memories,” Thompson says wryly. Eventually, the question of how much to grow the store became one of how long to hold on.

Letting go has been tough. The place has the feel of an old friend. The floors creak. The walls are permeated with the smell of incense. Two chubby bookstore cats roam the aisles and pause to be petted by customers who know each kitty by name. Thompson and Madson built most of the wood shelves and fixtures themselves.

On a recent day, Thompson walks the familiar aisles, noting the pictures of gurus on the walls. He tidies books in the UFOs and Inner Healing sections, passes an entire shelf of Wayne Dyer titles, and ends up in the backyard. “This is where we have the pagan rituals,” he says, half-joking.

People have been asking if they have made any provision for the real Bodhi tree growing in the backyard parking lot. It was given to them by a neighbor 30 years ago as a potted seedling. It is now heavy with figs and deeply rooted in concrete, with a trunk too big to put your arms around. They don’t know what will happen to it. Thompson figures the tree will be destroyed, chopped into firewood by the new owners.

Thompson prefers to believe that the bookstore has helped people who were lost, who were trying to discover who they are — whether that journey was through Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Both men worry about what will happen to the community once the store is gone. Where will people go for spiritual solace? “Perhaps a wealthy philosopher-entrepreneur will come in to buy the store and keep it going,” Thompson suggests. “A sort of philosopher king. Or queen.”

Madson believes that to continue, the store needs vitality, new energy and vision.

“We’re old-school booksellers,” he says. “We like that model. I’m not sure we’re the ones who should lead it into the next stage.”

Thompson’s 20-something son had ideas for the property before it was sold: He wanted to turn it into a microbrewery and surf shop.

The young man said he would “keep some of the books around,” Thompson mutters, shaking his head. “On the other hand, he does make pretty good beer.”

~ ~ ~

More photos of the Bodhi Tree Bookstore here:
http://www.bodhitree.com/gallery/bookstore/large.html

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/mining-giant-slammed-over-sacred-land/story-e6frf7jx-1225828489792

UK mining resources giant Vedanta was criticised today for planning to exploit an Indian forest held sacred by tribal people without their “informed consent,” following an appeal to Avatar’s director James Cameron for help.

Amnesty International attacked Vedanta’s plans to mine vast deposits of bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills of eastern India without consulting the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribe, who worship the land.

The tribe believes the lush hills are the home of its god Niyam Raja and they depend on the land for their crops and livelihood.

Their plight chimes with the tribe in Cameron’s hit movie Avatar, who seek to stop humans from mining under their sacred “home tree.”

Survival International, a group which campaigns on behalf of indigenous people, appealed Monday to Cameron to help stop the mine going ahead in an advertisement in US entertainment magazine Variety.

The opencast mine planned by India-focused Vedanta is intended to feed a nearby $US900 million ($1,030.77 million) alumina refinery already built by the company in the mineral-rich Orissa state.

Amnesty also said in a report the refinery, which is being fed with bauxite from other Indian states, is already causing air and water pollution that “threatens the health of local people.”

I have made the brief PBS biography of the great universal mystic poet and Sufi role model available via BitTorrent — I found it informative and inspiring. Among those appearing is none other than the prolific Rumi translator himself, Coleman Barks:

http://www.demonoid.com/files/download/HTTP/2125970/5838654

You’ll need to download and
install a BitTorrent client — I
recommend “uTorrent.” When
you’ve gotten the client working,
just use it to open the attached
file and everything else will
happen automagically. The
Wikipedia article on BitTorrent
is pretty good if you want to
learn more. They also have a
decent article on uTorrent
specifically.

Here’s the uTorrent download
link:

http://www.utorrent.com/downloads

and an alternative web link if
you’re uncomfortable opening up
attachments (and because
attachments probably won’t go
through to the group):

http://isohunt.com/download/153884257/%22Rumi+Returning%22.torrent

Avatar

* Dec. 26th, 2009 at 5:13 PM

I went to the movies yesterday to see Avatar, and while quite predictable at times, it struck a chord with me because it somehow reflects some of my own beliefs. The way the na’vi can bond with animals, with trees, with their ancestors, how they understand that they are simply ‘borrowed’ energy from the same source (Ai’wa), to which they all return in the end… It pretty much aligns with the concept of One-ness, of Non-Duality, understanding that we are not only related to everything else, but that we are one and the same.

The movie also sends a clear message about the way humans treat this earth and all creatures on it, about how everything seems to be justified in the name of ‘progress’, of ‘enrichment’… it reminds me of a native american proverb, “Only when the last tree is cut, only when the last river is polluted, only when the last fish is dead, will they realize that they can’t eat money”.

-Marcos Vazquez