Round One Chat
 

This week the topics are in Latin, then translated. Make sure to vote on everything.

#1Artifice vs. #8MMLP
#4Asylum vs. #5Adonis


#3Frank vs. #6Razah
#2Mr. J vs. #7Unbornbuddha



Voting Rule: Each round is on it's own. For example, if Asylum and Adonis are battling and at the end of the voting term asylum leads 4-2 but failed to vote, the adjusted tally would be 1-2 Adonis wins. so make sure you vote on all open battles as these rules will be strictly enforced throughout playoffs



Alternates all had zero votes last week
NYC
2tripple0
Jesodist

Lookimg good fellas

sign me up for round 1 or round 2 if its not too late.

I have to get into a mood for Buddha though...







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eBfa9nNzvk

Hey is there where I sign up to be in the league?

I'd like to get signed up for the start of round 2, brand new to the site.

Not sure if thats ganna be a problem or not

you've come in at the end of its season, hence why there is no sign ups thread

the "league" is in its playoffs - the guys with the best records over the course of the season are now facing off to see who is crowned the best

there wont be a chance for you to sign up for this, you're too late, BUT stick around for next season!

@Surplus @FLOOR LINED

Thank you, entirely. I will stick around and focus on reading. There are some true artists on this site... a lot is 90% past my brain's ability to understand the multiple and underlying messages within the text... especially on this section. I've found myself sayng "whoa," "wtf," "lol," and "omfg."

The way the net has meshed with hip hop and flows... its cray cray. I haven't checked out other sites though. Are netcee's from here also posting on other forums found when searching google for "rap battles online???"

yeah, definitely

the majority of dudes on this site have competed at multiple boards in the past (and currently)

but honestly, as someone whos done this off and on for almost 15 years... this is where the majority of the talent now lies

NC is basically the last vestige of text, the community is largely made up of the dope members from a lot of now defunct boards

were the best of the best still doing this shit

theres talent at other boards, no doubt, but in so far as champions and hall of famers from just about every hiphop board out there - this is where the competition is

plus our mods put in extraordinary work on their magazines and hyping up the tourneys/leagues here.. its by far the best ive seen it done, anywhere, for maybe a decade or so

and I speak on that not as a mod here, but just a member with a love for writing the same as all you dudes

if you check out the Hall of Names here, it tells you a bio on each member and sometimes the sites they repped

http://www.netcees.org/forumdisplay.php?f=40

Thank you sRal,

Ill try to keep checking in and see when the next time ill be able to get in!

Is there a list of topics/pictures? like a mega list of topics that have been used in the past weeks and leagues. I'd like to do some writing on my own/practice.

Anyone got a link to a lot of topics

There's not a mega thread full of topics, like you would find at R-R maybe, but if you want to scroll back through the archive of this seasons matches you'll find the weekly "Topic Threads" in there any may come across something you like:

http://www.netcees.org/forumdisplay.php?f=228

both those are probably the same kid with the dick name i told to buzz off a while ago.


i will be closing battles at midnight. . don't go timeless on me if you don't drop.

go to google image search and type in "alternative" then basically any word. you'll see lots of topicalesque pictures.

thinking about how to approach this verse like..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5poSw7tFLB4

hectic.

How you lose your verse @Mr. J? I also almost lost mine.

I wanted a good bout.

Got a free morning tomoz so ill be voting then.

Can analyse properly then, which I prefer to do.

surplus sounds like he from raptoralty as he mentioned a "mega thread"

they do that over there

You would have had one. Finished my piece & tried to send it but got signed out. lost all of it

I highly suggest writing your work in Microsoft word, it also has an autosave feature as well. So you don't lose your work in such unfortunate circumstances.

I've been reading a lot of buddhist material, buddha. Highly prevalent in modern times, highly prevalent...

only major religion which isn't at odds with science.

mind, body, spirit, the various "planes" of existence...

one reality.

you need to save your shit on a word processor before you drop G.

now I know why you always say that. writing it on the mobiles notepad if you're on one, simple procedure could save you a lot of time.

@sraL cool lets get him in next season.

Any particular sutra? Or any particular master's teachings?

Stay away from many of the modern Buddhist teachings, they are not what the Buddha taught, its psycho-materialistic Buddhism.

And ignore the inspiration of the lime background? No thank you...




Just remember I showed all season....you're welcome

You'd probably be against it but mahayanist buddhism, particularly the branch that chants nam myoho renge kyo the title of the lotus sutra. I tried chanting it today and placebo or not I felt peaceful. It's not something where I'm going to just stick to this, I'll probably have to get into some Alan Watts and translations of actual scripture but of all the major religions I identify more with buddhism. Other than that I read Siddartha by Herman hesse, the tao of physics, something by d.t. suzuki and a bunch of popular magazines. I can't forsake my natural urge toward being a grey jedi though - 75-85% good but also with the capacity for evil bc I can't fight evil with good I can only fight evil with evil. JMO.

Ah for sure. That particular branch comes from a monk called Nichiren. He had an interesting life, survived some executions by what some call good luck or divine will. The lotus sutra is deemed as the most powerful sutra. A famous Chan master once said that if you want to find out why the Buddha came to Earth, read the Lotus Sutra. If you want to learn how he attained enlightenment, read the Surangama sutra.
And no I am not against Mahayana, that is my particular resonance, albeit I am inclined towards Chan/ Zen sect. Particularly old school type Chan.

If it made you feel peaceful that's good. If your willing, try chanting the Lotus Sutra one day in Sanskrit, it is even more powerful in effect in my opinion.

And I love Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, wish I could read it in German. One day I suppose. D.T. Susuki was a great scholar, check out his Lavankatara sutra, his greatest translation. And of course your inclined toward Buddhism, i have come to see that it attracts certain minds.

And as for Good vs evil. From the perspective of the great Confucian Mencius, evil doesn't even exist at the presence of true goodness. But relatively evil exists in contrast to good, but since this good is intertwined with evil, it is not true goodness. I think fighting exists because of good and evil, the evil think they are doing good, or they are trying to be good by doing evil. There are a couple of stories where some crazy murderers, psychopaths who would wear a necklace of their victims' fingers, were transformed when they met a being of true goodness.

do you post from a computer? do you have word? I will personally create an environment in word for you to have your "comfy space."

I truly do appreciate you, but we take the playoffs seriously man.
Same shit probably happened during adonis winter tourney. That was fucked up bro. Same thing happens first round here, better then final one I guess. You have to admit, I make a valid point.

You can take steps to avoid this happening next season. Please utilize them.
Regardless, thanks for your votes, time, and dedication to our cause. Truly, thank you. I love your work and your rhyming votes even. Everyone else hates them but me. Keep doing you man. Just do your work in a more dependable environment next season. Please.

edit : Voting in full tomorrow, coming through with a mag. No show shine coming at @UnbornBuddha for sure.

LETS KEEP THIS MOVEMENT GOING!!!!!!!!

I hope you all know voting deadlines will not be overlooked in the future. Guilty this week as anyone. Dropping mine now.

I'm trying to get a tourney rolling tag team alias most likely. Don't fuck off on these votes.

I hope you all follow suit. Great luck to anyone competing in the playoffs.

Thank you all for your continued participation and dedication.

Nice verses boiyz.

@Mr. J
Sometimes if you hit the back button you can get lucky and it populates back to the page you were writing, with your entire verse intact.

Since that can fail too, I'd gotten into the habit of ctrl-c Copying what I'd written so far...once there's a big chunk there.
So if disaster strikes I can ctrl-v Paste and at least save the majority of it.

I don't like writing raps on Word either. and on some phones the Word apostrophes and other characters populate as '?' in a verse... F that... old microsoft notepad is better for netcees.
So if I'm going to write something in more than one sittdown i'll put in notepad.

what minds does it attract....

YO nice work fellas. you four went hard in the paint.
too bad @UnbornBuddha got no showed.

that was a sick ass verse too. drop it in the OM. i'll drop feed in mag tho.

Been busy as shit recently. What sucks is not having time to write for a battle, and then getting a dope idea for that topic 2 days after verses are due.

*shrugs.

Minds that are aware of the dimensionality of their own suffering, and thus are able to perceive themselves beyond the reality set upon by the confines of social and religious norms. Minds that perceive into the veil of their own enigma, or the riddle of reality. To quote Lao zi "There is nothing better than to know that you don't know. Not knowing, yet thinking you know -- This is sickness. Only when you are sick of being sick can you be cured. The sage is not sick is because he is sick of sickness. Therefore he is not sick".

I like that quote.

what are your thoughts on the lotus sutra. what do u think it means compared to the surangama sutra and why do both complement each other (as buddhism extols interconnectedness so they must complement each other)? Also What is the chan sect and why are you drawn to it. Do u have a link to the lotus sutra in sanskrit phonetically spelled out in english so one can chant it? What r d Suzuki's thoughts on the lavankatara also? Also do you feel true goodness is a spark routinely witnessed in individuals who are typically ensconsed in the mundane pull between good/evil yin/yang.

Those are complicated questions. I'll try to answer briefly.

The lotus Sutra can be summarized like Hakuin once said "Outside the mind there is no Lotus Sutra and outside the Lotus Sutra there is no mind". Hakuin is one of the 3 most influential Zen masters in all of Japan's history. The Lotus Sutra's intent is not to teach you anything. The Lotus sutra is about one's Nature. One's nature and the Lotus sutra are one in the same. So when one reads it one has to return to one's nature to really understand it. If not the book seems like a book of cause and effect, when really it is an invocation to allow the One mind to erase you completely, until what emerges is the Lotus. This Lotus is already contained not in you, but not outside of you either. Its not within or without. Its something that must be discovered either instantly or systemically. Buddhism is very methodical and has literally dissected consciousness and existence and their intertwine down to the smallest particles possible. Imagine a grain of sand being exploded into millions of pieces, and the space within these pieces becoming closer to one's being than the grain of sand. The grain of sand represents you. before being deconstructed by practice.
In truth, Buddhism in modern day is very misunderstood, even the Dalai Llama teaches very watered down Buddhism to the lay public. While yes Buddhism teaches about kindness, and all that, that's not really its true goal. Kindness and charity is just something that happens, but Buddhism is about transcending the universe, while not moving at all, staying in the same place.
Yin and yang constitute the whole universe, nuclear fusion of stars, expansion and contraction of the cosmos and heavens, copulation, human birth, death, everything can be seen as a spectrum of yin and yang, as you know. The universe works in cycles, Hinduism and the Vedas speak on this more than most religions or even modern science. Although the Hubra ultra deep field comes closer to what the Vedas were talking about cosmologically.
Therefore, yin and yang is life and death. Buddhism is about transcending life and death. Emptiness, voidness all translations of the word sunyata शून्यता means empty not like nihilism professes. It is more about the emptiness of what your not. The Buddha was very hesistant to speak on what he discovered, which he named the Tathagātagarbha. Which is the womb of the thus-come-one. It is a nameless reality that transcends time and space. And the more one practices the more one is surrounded by this womb. One's heart becomes like a child again as the first stage of true initiation. One reverts back to before life and death ensnared you.
The lotus sutra should not be understood in modern words. I'm sure there are links. But, I'm hesistant to look and give them because it will be a crutch actually. The power in the mantra is not the words themselves, albeit Sanskrit is closer to the essence of what the words were trying to convey. The point of the mantra is to be able to get to the state before the words are spoken. This means recognizing who is it that is chanting. And as one recognizes this the words and that which chants are indistinguishable. Since the words are emanating from it. And as as you forget you, this it or Buddha mind becomes you, so you become a Buddha.
Susuki was a Buddhist laymen. For him to convey the Lankavara as well as he did, he must have understood it pass the rhetoric. Grasping the words themselves are the superficial stage. Important, but also not that important. Also many Sutras contradict each other, from a scholarly and historical standpoint. All I will say they really don't, but to those who don't understand the stages or phases of teachings Siddhartha taught throughout his lifetime, then they'll think there is contradiction. He taught different things to people of different levels and understanding. Just like the Dalai Llama teaches to the lay public, certain things. Things to make them happier. Buddhism is about transcending happiness and suffering all together. The result is a peace that far surpasses bliss. Albeit bliss is also part of the first two stages of the Dhyanas, or meditative trance.
True goodness is something rare nowadays. I'm not sure what you mean by spark, but true goodness is merely a function from one's heavenly or primordial nature. Goodness in a yin yang sense is still closer than evil is because arguably evil brings more suffering than good does. And in the primordial one doesn't suffer, even when one's body is in pain. One could still have pain, but no suffering.

@Razah @NYCSPITZ

can you guys PLEASE vote?

Razah voted.

shit you right.
@Frank uno mas por favor.
and please explain who the hell dragon is before i close these matches.