Sceptic challenges guru to kill him live on TV

[Jundo]

I find this article very hopeful, and worth reading right to the bottom.

Let's separate the magic and miracle of this Practice and this Life (not two, by the way) ... from magic and cheap miracles:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 067989.ece (http://http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7067989.ece)


Members now spend much of their time investigating and reverse-engineering “miracles” performed by self-styled holy men who often claim millions of followers and amass huge wealth from donations.

One common trick they expose is levitation, usually done using an accomplice who lies on the ground under a blanket and then raises his upper body while holding out two hockey sticks under the blanket to make it look like his feet are also rising. “It’s quite easy really,” said Mr Edamaruku, who teaches members to perform the tricks in villages and then explains how they are done, or demonstrates them at press conferences.

[Shohei]

Ah very much worth reading to the end :)

Thanks for that!

Gassho
Shohei

[Hogo]

Wow those silly gullable Indians, I can't belive they could fall for..............oh wait a min..... :oops: nevermind.

James Randi Debunks Peter Popoff Faith Healer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7BQKu0YP8Y

Sorry for the joking but really as I read that article, things started to get a bit familiar. It makes me sad to see people get ripped off with hope, or fear.
Thanks for sharing Jundo.
Gassho ~Dave

[Tb]

Hi.

Yes.
These things seem to pop up now and then.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vns7gS3sFi8[/video]]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vns7gS3sFi8 (http://[video=youtube_share;Vns7gS3sFi8)

Mtfbwy
Fugen

[Taigu]

Hi all,

Being a fairly good magician with a huge experience in performing close up magic professionaly, I would just say that the magical and the spiritual should not be seen as going hand in hand. Peple claiming to have powers are just conjurors and tricksters who, unlike most of us, fool people into believing that what they do is the real thing. The real magic is to see things as they are. It is true that when we perform magic, we bring back people to the long forgotten land of wonder and astonishement...Paul Harris, the great American close up magician has this idea that magic breaks through the fixed mind. That's why I do it: to see in an instant, the child coming back into this far two serious pair of eyes.

Magically yours

Gassho

Taigu

[disastermouse]

The real magic is to see things as they are.

Gassho.

Chet

[Shogen]

Thank you Jundo, Taigu, Dave, and Fugen. Good stuff all it is. Gassho Zak

[Hans]

Hello Folks,

after having forgotten to log in the first time around (mindfulness anyone)...here's my two cents. In traditional Shamanic societies (I inlcude non-Evenki and Siberian peoples in my use of the term Shamanic) using sleight of hand as part of a ritual does not necessarily imply that the Shaman is a fraud, though of course there have been loads of ritual specialists (even Buddhists...who would've thought that :) ) who used and abused their privileges to exploit people. The successful performance of a religious ritual depends a lot on the impact the ritual in question has on the person/community to be healed/changed. One could call these cases of stage magic tricks used for religious purposes shamanic "upaya". I personally am not at all in favour of using these kind of tricks, but they did and do play a great part in many traditional societies.

Gassho,

Hans

[Taigu]

Hans,


Thank you. Just one thing...Shamanic, or traditional are not better. These guys, distorting reality with magical procedures, are just like the Wizard of Oz. Old, ancient, traditional...For sure. Wise? I'm not so sure. Sai Baba is not my cup of tea, but I am sure it is not yours.

Anyway, i am glad to hear that you are not in favour of this kind of tricks.


I'll give you a free ticket to one of my magic shows. Useless magic. Your magic... as you know already, we do it all.


gassho


Taigu

[Dojin]

yep.... that sure looks like fun....
it is funny to see it in every culture.

even in israel we have things like that... healers, rabbis who do exorcisms and things like that.

Gaasho, Dojin.