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HH the Dalai Lama : introduction, teaching dates, and background

2009-07-25T21:41:32Z

This is a major outreach article. I have already completed a first round of follow-up responses on a number of tribes.
The Buddhist teaching is of great significance and so is the Dalai Lama, in many respects.
I hardly hear of him being mentioned on the tribes, but he is a major world figure among academics, environmentalists, psychologists, yoga practitioners and of course Buddhists both East and West.

So now, via many tribes, the Dalai Lama has now been effectively introduced.
May this be beneficial.

KT

Keywords : HH The Dalai Lama, public Dalai Lama talks on world peace, Dalai Lama resources and current schedule, Nobel Peace Prize, universal human [ secular ] ethics, deep permaculture ethics.

Summary: Provided here is (1) the current tour schedule for His Holiness the Dalai Lama [ for California, Massachusetts, New York, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, India, Germany ], (2) an introduction to the life and work of HH the Dalai Lama, (3) book references and resources, and (4) curriculum vitae.

HH the Dalai Lama:
“Never give up.
No matter what is going on.
Never give up.
Develop the heart.
Be compassionate.
Not just to your friends but to everyone.
Work for peace in your heart and in the world.
Work for peace and I say again:
Never give up.
No matter what is happening.
No matter what is going on around you.
Never give up.”

Introduction:

All Our Relations. Mitakuye Oyasin.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is one of the pivotal figures of our time. He is, more than anyone else that can be presently named, a world citizen and world teacher.

His work in ethics, human rights,world peace, psychology and education, Buddhist teaching and East West relations, is second to none in our generation.

In addition to a Nobel Peace Prize and the US Congressional Gold Medal, HH the Dalai Lama has received scores of honorary Doctorates ( in Laws, Philosophy, Human Letters, Divinity, Buddhist Philosophy, and so forth ) from major teaching centers worldwide. These include Columba, Brandeis, Universite de Paris, Benaras Hindu University, Hebrew University Jerusalem, U California San Francisco, and Rissho University Tokyo. He is an honorary citizen of Canada, of Roma Italia and so forth.

He speaks worldwide and has published more than seventy two books.

He is one of the most respected and revered persons on the the planet. On one visit to New York City some years back, forty thousand people turned out to see the Dalai Lama in the park.

When the Dalai Lama gives the Highest Yoga Tantra initiation ( abhisekha ) of Kalacakra, the attendees sometimes number 100,000 or even 200,000. HH the Dalai Lama has given this initiation thirty times in different parts of the world. In addition to being a master of the Great Seal ( Mahamudra ) lineage of Buddhist tantra, he also gives initiations of the Great Perfection ( Mahasandhi, Atiyoga ), for example in London, in San Francisco, and Paris.

You can see him this year at public talks in several areas, such as California, Massachusetts, New York, Europe, and India. A current schedule is provided below.

I have seen HH the Dalai Lama give extremely worthwhile empowerments in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and represented him to the State Legislature of Hawaii in 1993, where he was invited to give a talk, and did. I have listened carefully to him conferencing with Hawaiian elders in public and was struck by the care and attention he gave in listening to others, and in asking questions.

HH the Dalai Lama has written extremely important books on psychology and ethics, and I recommend these to the general public for self-help purposes, and also recommend some of his books to those committed to public service, especially in the area of multiculturalism, international human rights work, and the international Green Party movement.

Because of the profound confluence of modern events, global economics, environmental issues and human cultures, the importance of broader and deeper human co-operation becomes ever greater.

To obtain a broader and clearer understanding and principles for working with these issues, studying the secular works of the Dalai Lama is of great value.

Similarly, His Holiness is one of the few people who can and does speak for the diverse Buddhist populations and traditions worldwide. He has taught senior Japanese tantric Buddhist gurus of the Shingon lineage in their country, for instance. His Holiness is a paragon of the Buddhist renunciate order ( bhiksu-sangha ), of Buddhist scholarship, and of the Mahayana Great Way lineages, all of which are profoundly universal.

This teacher is one of our very very best, be you a psychologist or academic, a diplomat, a tantric yogi, or a Buddhist practitioner. He has completely revolutionized Buddhist teaching, parts of popular modern culture, the understanding of international diplomacy and so forth in our lifetime.

This is someone who actually embodies many of the key principles of the United Nations treaties on human rights, and also the key Buddhist Mahayana principles and teachings. It is important to note that the Mahayana Buddhist principles and the principles of the UN human rights work are essentially identical. There are universal principles that take us all forward, individually and together. In Buddhist Sanskrit these terms are, for instance pratitya-samutpada and karma. Now you know.

The final point I wish to put forward to all is this: the Dalai Lama believes in all of us as people who *already* have sensitive human hearts that can be educated and developed, and he shows all of us a very real and practical way forward, a way based on self-understanding, listening and mutual respect, and patient co-operation.

You could do worse, and please remember that due to impermanence, this master teacher will not live forever. It is not clear how anyone anywhere can replace him.

I see no real alternative to respect and co-operation for the common good, because we are one world. For this broader and deeper reason, and not specifically because he is a Buddhist guru, I support this teacher. He was not allowed by their government to attend a recent peace conference in South Africa, but he is available to you, and he is here for All Our Relations. May he live long and may his brilliant consciousness reach many many more.

Thank you,
KT, Rio Earth Summit Green Party organizer and so forth

In partial fulfillment of my formal Mahayana teaching responsibilities.
Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu!
[ May it be auspicious! May there be accomplishment! ]

John David Bartoe, Challenger 8 NASA space mission, July 1985:
“As I looked down, I saw large river meandering slowly along for miles, passing from one country to another without stopping. I also saw huge forests, extending across several borders. And I watched the extent of one ocean touch the shores of several continents. Two words leaped to mind as I looked down on all of this: commonality and interdependence. We are one world.”

Some of the following materials are taken from
www.dalailama.com/
Published books and multimedia materials are available at libraries throughout the world, and from Snow Lion Publications at
www.snowlionpub.com

From the official web site:

“Universal Recognition

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a man of peace. In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet. He has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of extreme aggression. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems.

“His Holiness has travelled to more than 62 countries spanning 6 continents. He has met with presidents, prime ministers and crowned rulers of major nations. He has held dialogues with the heads of different religions and many well-known scientists.

“Since 1959 His Holiness has received over 84 awards, honorary doctorates, prizes, etc., in recognition of his message of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, universal responsibility and compassion. His Holiness has also authored more than 72 books.

“His Holiness describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk.”

“Three Main Commitments in Life
“Firstly, on the level of a human being, His Holiness first commitment is the promotion of human values such as compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline. All human beings are the same. We all want happiness and do not want suffering. Even people who do not believe in religion recognize the importance of these human values in making their life happier. His Holiness refers to these human values as secular ethics. He remains committed to talk about the importance of these human values and share them with everyone he meets.

“Secondly, on the level of a religious practitioner, His Holiness second commitment is the promotion of religious harmony and understanding among the world's major religious traditions. Despite philosophical differences, all major world religions have the same potential to create good human beings. It is therefore important for all religious traditions to respect one another and recognize the value of each other's respective traditions. As far as one truth, one religion is concerned, this is relevant on an individual level. However, for the community at large, several truths, several religions are necessary.
“Thirdly, His Holiness is a Tibetan and carries the name of the Dalai Lama. Tibetans place their trust in him. Therefore, his third commitment is to the Tibetan issue. His Holiness has a responsibility to act as the free spokesperson of the Tibetans in their struggle for justice. As far as this third commitment is concerned, it will cease to exist once a mutually beneficial solution is reached between the Tibetans and Chinese.

However, His Holiness will carry on with the first two commitments till his last breath.”

Upcoming Schedule
2009
Lecture in Santa Barbara, CA, USA on April 24: His Holiness will give a lecture on The Nature of Mind organized by the University of Santa Barbara at the UCSB Events Center. Contact Website: www.religion.ucsb.edu/dalailama/
Public Talk in Santa Barbara, CA, USA on April 24: His Holiness will give a public talk on Ethics for Our Time organized by the University of Santa Barbara at the UCSB Events Center. Contact Website: www.religion.ucsb.edu/dalailama/
Public Talk in Berkeley, CA, USA on April 25: His Holiness will give a public talk on Peace Through Compassion organized by the University of California, Berkeley at the Greek Theater. Contact Website: www.berkeley.edu

Public Talk in Boston, MA, USA on April 30: His Holiness will give a public talk to the Harvard University Community on Educating the Heart organized by Harvard University at the Memorial Church. Contact Website: www.harvard.edu
Inauguration of The Dalai Lama Center on April 30: His Holiness will inaugurate The Dalai Lama Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by giving a talk on Ethics and Enlightened Leadership. Contact Website: www.thecenter.mit.edu
Panel Discussion in Boston, MA on May 1: His Holiness will participate in a panel discussion on Meditation and Psychotherapy – Cultivating Compassion and Wisdom organized by the Harvard Medical School Department of Continuing Education at Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Contact Website: www.cme.med.harvard.edu/index.asp
Teaching in Boston, MA on May 2: His Holiness will give a teaching in the morning on What Is Buddhism & Commentary on The Four Noble Truths organized by the Tibetan Association of Boston at the Gillette Stadium, Foxboro. Contact Website: www.bostontibet.org
Public Talk in Boston, MA on May 2: His Holiness will give a public talk in the afternoon on The Path to Peace and Inner Happiness organized by the Tibetan Association of Boston at the Gillette Stadium, Foxboro. Contact Website: www.bostontibet.org

Public Talk in New York, NY on May 3: His Holiness will participate in a conversation with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and moderated by Pico Iyer on Wisdom & Compassion for Challenging Times and organized by The Tibet Fund at The Town Hall. Contact Website: www.tibetfund.org

Teaching in New York, NY on May 4: His Holiness will give a teaching on The Quintessence of Compassion organized by The Tibet House at The New Beacon Theater. Contact Website: www.tibethouse.org
Public Talk in Albany, NY on May 6: His Holiness will give a public talk on Compassionate Ethics in Difficult Times organized by the World Ethical Foundations Consortium at the Albany Palace Theater. Contact Website: www.worldethicalfoundations.org

Teaching in Copenhagen, Denmark from May 30 & 31: His Holiness will give a day and a half teaching on Nagarjuna's Commentary on Bodhicitta (jangchup semdrel) & Kamalashila's The Middling Stages of Meditation (gomrim barpa) at the Bella Center. Contact Website: www.dalailama.dk
Public Talk in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 31: His Holiness will give a public talk on Peace Through Inner Peace at the Bella Center. Contact Website: www.dalailama.dk

Public Talk in Reykjavik, Iceland on June 2: His Holiness will give a public talk on the topic on Values, Attitude and Happiness at the Laugardalsholl Sporting Arena. Contact Website: www.dalailama.is

Teaching in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on June 4: His Holiness will give a teaching on Shantideva’s Chapter 6 on Patience from A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life at the Rai Congress Center. Contact Website: www.dalailamanederland.nl
Public Talk in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on June 4: His Holiness will give a public talk on The Power of Compassion At A Turbulent Time at the Rai Congress Center. Contact Website: www.dalailamanederland.nl

Teaching in Kaza, H.P., India from July 10 to 12: His Holiness will give three-day teachings at the request of the Sakya Monastery in Kaza. On July 10 His Holiness will give a Buddhist teaching (topic yet to be decided). On July 11 and 12 His Holiness will confer the Avalokiteshvera Initiation (chenresig wangchen).

Teaching in Frankfurt, Germany on July 30 & 31: His Holiness will give a day and a half teaching on Kamalashila's The Middling Stages of Meditation (gomrim barpa). On the morning of July 31 he will confer an Amitabha Empowerment (opakmey jenang). Contact Website: www.dalailama-frankfurt.de

Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
[ University Aula, Oslo, 10 December 1989 ] :

Your Majesty, Members of the Nobel Committee, Brothers and Sisters.

I am very happy to be here with you today to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace. I feel honored, humbled and deeply moved that you should give this important prize to a simple monk from Tibet I am no one special. But I believe the prize is a recognition of the true value of altruism, love, compassion and non-violence which I try to practice, in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha and the great sages of India and Tibet, I accept the prize with profound gratitude on behalf of the oppressed everywhere and for all those who struggle for freedom and work for world peace.

I accept it as a tribute to the man who founded the modern tradition of non-violent action for change Mahatma Gandhi whose life taught and inspired me. And, of course, I accept it on behalf of the six million Tibetan people, my brave countrymen and women inside Tibet, who have suffered and continue to suffer so much. They confront a calculated and systematic strategy aimed at the destruction of their national and cultural identities. The prize reaffirms our conviction that with truth, courage and determination as our weapons, Tibet will be liberated.

No matter what part of the world we come from, we are all basically the same human beings. We all seek happiness and try to avoid suffering. We have the same basic human needs and is concerns. All of us human beings want freedom and the right to determine our own destiny as individuals and as peoples. That is human nature. The great changes that are taking place everywhere in the world, from Eastern Europe to Africa are a clear indication of this.

In China the popular movement for democracy was crushed by brutal force in June this year. But I do not believe the demonstrations were in vain, because the spirit of freedom was rekindled among the Chinese people and China cannot escape the impact of this spirit of freedom sweeping many parts of the world. The brave students and their supporters showed the Chinese leadership and the world the human face of that great nation.

Last week a number of Tibetans were once again sentenced to prison terms of upto nineteen years at a mass show trial, possibly intended to frighten the population before today's event. Their only 'crime" was the expression of the widespread desire of Tibetans for the restoration of their beloved country's independence.
The suffering of our people during the past forty years of occupation is well documented. Ours has been a long struggle. We know our cause is just Because violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our struggle must remain non-violent and free of hatred. We are trying to end the suffering of our people, not to inflict suffering upon others.

It is with this in mind that I proposed negotiations between Tibet and China on numerous occasions. In 1987, I made specific proposals in a Five-Point plan for the restoration of peace and human rights in Tibet. This included the conversion of the entire Tibetan plateau into a Zone of Ahimsa, a sanctuary of peace and non-violence where human beings and nature can live in peace and harmony.
last year, I elaborated on that plan in Strasbourg, at the European Parliament I believe the ideas I expressed on those occasions are both realistic. and reasonable although they have been criticised by some of my people as being too conciliatory. Unfortunately, China's leaders have not responded positively to the suggestions we have made, which included important concessions. If this continues we will be compelled to reconsider our position.

Any relationship between Tibet and China will have to be based on the principle of equality, respect, trust and mutual benefit. It will also have to be based on the principle which the wise rulers of Tibet and of China laid down in a treaty as early as 823 AD, carved on the pillar which still stands today in front of the Jokhang, Tibet's holiest shrine, in Lhasa, that "Tibetans will live happily in the great land of Tibet, and the Chinese will live happily in the great land of China".

As a Buddhist monk, my concern extends to all members of the human family and, indeed, to all sentient beings who suffer. I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share. Although I have found my own Buddhist religion helpful in generating love and com¬passion, even for those we consider our enemies, I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion.

With the ever growing impact of science on our lives, religion and spirituality have a greater role to play reminding us of our humanity. There is no contradiction between the two. Each gives us valuable insights into the other. Both science and the teachings of the Buddha tell us of the fundamental unity of all things. This understanding is crucial if we are to take positive and decisive action on the pressing global concern with the environment.

I believe all religions pursue the same goals, that of cultivating human goodness and bringing happiness to all human beings. Though the means might appear different the ends are the same.
As we enter the final decade of this century I am optimistic that the ancient values that have sustained mankind are today reaffirming themselves to prepare us for a kinder, happier twenty-first century.

I pray for all of us, oppressor and friend, that together we succeed in building a better world through human under-standing and love, and that in doing so we may reduce the pain and suffering of all sentient beings.
Thank you.

[ end posting ]

posted in Full Enlightenment - 13 replies

2009 U.S. Teaching Schedule For H.E. Gochen Tulku Sang Ngak ( Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma lineage )

2009-07-25T04:21:16Z

2009 U.S. Teaching Schedule For H.E. Gochen Tulku Sang Ngak ( Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma lineage )

Keywords: Nyingma, Great Perfection / Dzogchen, tantric transmissions and retreats, H.E. Gochen Tulku Sang Ngak, Ewam USA.

Here I provide details on the current 2009 teaching schedule, practice centers, and background for H.E. Gochen Tulku, a most accomplished Tibetan yogi.

His Eminence is a major teacher and incarnate guru in the Earlier Transmission ( Nyingma ) of Buddhist tantra into Tibet from India, as established by the Great Guru Padmasambhava, in particular of the Primordial Awareness Yoga known as "Atiyoga", that is, the Great Perfection, a.k.a. "Dzogchen" in Tibetan ).

For more information on esoteric Buddhist tantra in the form of Nyingma and Dzogchen materials, see Snow Lion Publications online
www.snowlionpub.com/
and the book
"The Crystal and the Way of Light", by Namkhai Norbu.

For current information on H.E. Gochen Tulku, his Evam USA organization and their projects and teaching schedules, see
www.ewam.org/

H.E. Gochen Tulku is a lineage holder and has even transmitted a major tantric / atiyoga cycle TO H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinbochay, but is not yet well known in the West. He is nevertheless a very important teacher in several western Nyingma fellowships such as Chagdud Gonpa Foundation and the Dudjom Yeshe Nyingpo.

I have seen this teacher several times from 1997 to 2000, and received numerous major transmissions, including some that are both extremely rare and very powerful. He is truly extraordinary and I strongly recommend him to those who wish to connect with the inner Early Transmission and the Great Perfection.

This year he is teaching in Montana, Colorado, and California ( see below ). This schedule includes extraordinary healing practice ( Vajra Armor ), and extraordinary goddess yoga ( White Dakini ). Note that I do *not* represent this teacher, and schedule details are subject to change.

The merit of sharing this teaching is dedicated to the life and spiritual work of H.E. Gochen Tulku, with great gratitude, and to the continued development of these tantric lineages, with the hope that it will be profoundly beneficial to many.

Sarva mangalam. Siddhi rastu!

KT

"Tulku Sang ngag Rinpoche, the sixth Gochen Tulku, is an incarnation of Gyalwa Chokyang, one of the close disciples of Padmasambhava. Recognized at the age of three, Rinpoche began learning religious rituals and liturgies, as well as traditional Tibetan medicine, at an early age.

"Rinpoche met his root guru, Tulku Orgyen Chemchok, in a Chinese prison where he was held for nine years. Here he received teachings and secret transmissions. Upon release, Rinpoche met his other root teacher, H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, with whom he traveled, studied, and practiced intensively for nearly fourteen years.

Rinpoche teaches worldwide and oversees his two retreat centers in Pharping: Yuloko Nunnery and Phurpaling, a dharma center in Taiwan and his U.S. retreat center, Ewam Sang-ngag Ling, located in Arlee, Montana."

Contact info

- - Ewam USA - -

Sang-ngag Ling - Arlee, Montana
406-726-0217

PO Box 330
34574 White Coyote Road
Arlee, MT 59821
ewammontana@blackfoot.net

Samten Ling - Tuolumne, California
(near Sonora)
209-928-1326
michaelirw@mlode.com

- - Ewam Nepal - -

Phurba Sang-ngag Ling
Phone: 977-1-4710-093

Turquoise Leaf Nunnery/Yuloko
Phone: 977-1-4710-094

To contact Nepal Centers:
P.O.B. 7032
Devi G.B.S. Pharping
Kathmandu, Nepal
e-mail for both: ewamnepal@hotmail.com

- - Ewam Asia - -

Ewam Phurba Ling Taiwan
Dr. Choeji Lodoe Tashi
1F and 4F, No. 76, Sec 1. Hsiu Lang Rd
Yung Ho City, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan
Phone: (02)2928-7993 - (02)2920-5294

Ewam Taichung
Dr. Choeji Lodoe Tashi
F3, No. 105 Nan Yang Rd
Feng Yuan City, Taichung, Taiwan
Phone: 886-4-2529-5973

Ewam Hong Kong
Flat F, 18/F. Block 1, Pierhead Garden
Tuen Mun, NT, Hong Kong

-------------------------------------------------

Schedule for H.E. Gochen Tulku Sang Ngak for 2009

Buddhahood Without Meditation

Sept 8-15th, Arlee Montana
www.ewam.org
www.ewam.org/pages/directions.php

Please register by August 1st, to register and pay for this retreat, click here, see below for retreat costs. This is a restricted retreat so please contact Devi in the office for more information at 406-726-0217.

Widely known by its subtitle, Nang-jang (Refining Apparent Phenomena), presents the view of the Great Perfection through the approach known as t'hreg-chhod (cutting through solidity). The nineteenth-century master Dudjom Lingpa received these teachings in visionary dialogue with fourteen enlightened beings, including Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, Longchenpa, and Saraha.- The Dudjom lineage, based on the terma, or hidden treasures, revealed by Dudjom Lingpa and his immediate rebirth, His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche (1904-1987), late head of the Nyingma school of Buddhism, is one of the principal modern lineages of Dzogchen Transmission.

RETREAT COSTS:
Non-Member $560.00
Non-Member/Camping $505.00

Member $476.00
Member/Camping $428.00

White Dakini Drub Chen
with Tulku Sang ngag Rinpoche & Lama Tsultrim Allione
August 23 - 31, 2009

Tara Mandala Colorado
See www.taramandala.org/

White Dakini Drub Chen. For the first time in the West a Drub Chen (Great Accomplishment Ceremony) of the White Dakini ( White Goddess ) practice from Do Khyentse’s Dzinpa Rangdröl (Self-Liberation from Fixation) treasure cycle will be performed. This lineage comes directly from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche to Tulku Sang ngag who will be the Vajra Master at the Drub Chen.

We will experience a traditional empowerment given by Tulku Sang ngag, and we will be lead through an in depth process of learning and practicing the White Dakini mandala. This White Dakini practice is the union of Machig Labdron and Yeshe Tsogyel surrounded by the dakinis of the five families. During the retreat, in addition to the precious teachings from Tulku Sang gnag, Lama Tsultrim will help frame the experience through discussion and further teachings.

The White Dakini practice will be established as a key practice at Tara Mandala and links directly to Machig through Yeshe Tsogyel, her previous incarnation. This is an opportunity to be in the first group receiving this lineage transmission and is open to anyone interested. In addition, it is a strictly closed retreat and requires intensive practice and the ability to hold the container.

During the Drub Chen traditional instruments will be played, a mandala will be created, and continual mantra recitation will occur. The participants will experience deep immersion in the Vajra world. This is an exciting deepening of the tradition at Tara Mandala and we encourage everyone drawn to be here to come. Mipham Rinpoche said, ”One Drub Chen is equal to seven years of solitary retreat.”

Price
Double: $1,553 - $965
Queen Double: $1,575 - $1,080 - SOLD OUT
Queen Single: $1,685 - $1,190 - SOLD OUT
Camping: $925 - $650
Suggested Dana: $160 - $320

Guya Garbha ( Hundred Deities / Bardo ) – Shedra Retreat

Sept 20-27th
Arlee Montana
www.ewam.org
www.ewam.org/pages/directions.php

Prerequisites for these teachings are the prior Shedra retreats on the first part of a commentary on the Treasury of Precious Qualities - A Commentary on The Root Text of Jigme Lingpa. This book presents the entire Buddhist path according to the Nyingma School. Tulku Sang-ngag began giving these retreats at Ewam in 2002 and finished the text in 2007 which are available on CD. , Lama David Curtis also taught this text over the course of 3 years. This year Rinpoche's brother, Khenpo Ngawang Gelek, will continue these teachings and Rinpoche will give the empowerment. There are no translations of this part of the text yet.

If you are interested in this retreat, please contact Devi in the office as soon as possible at 406-726-0217 or via email.
( It is important to get an idea of how many people are coming to this retreat to plan accordingly. )

RETREAT COSTS: Non-Members $500.00
Non-Members/Camping $450.00

Members $425.00
Members/Camping $382.00

The Nature of Mind ( Great Perfection )
Root Text by Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche

October 14th - 19th
Ewma Samten Ling, Tuolumne California ( near Sonora )
Contact phone 209.928.1326
Email
michealirw@frontiernet.net

Vajra Armor Retreat

November 5-8
Mt. Shasta, CA
please contact John Cashman at (530) 926-5196.

"The Vajra Armor Mantra (Tib. Dorje Go-Drab), is among the most powerful healing practices in Tantric Buddhism. Long held as a secret practice, it has been practiced for over a millenium by tantric adepts and Tibetan physicians as an effective method for treating diseases, purifying negative energies and protection from misfortune.

"The Vajra Armor Mantra was first introduced into Tibet in the eighth century by Padmasambhava, who had collected various teachings and practices on this mantra from the ancient Indian Buddhist tradition. After teaching his close disciples in Tibet, he hid the Vajra Armor teachings in 124 places, to be discovered by future ‘treasure finders’ as prophesied in his writings.

"Padmasambhava predicted that a time would come when there would be a great need for this mantra and to preserve the integrity of the teachings and lineage, he hid different versions of this practice in many different places for safekeeping, until the designated treasure finder would reintroduce them to the world.

Over the past one thousand years, there have been numerous major teaching cycles of the Vajra Armor Mantra that have been revealed, including those of Dorje Lingpa, Mipham, Dudjom Lingpa, and Trak-t’hung Namkha’I Jigme. These teachings outline a deep and profound path to realization and ultimately to Buddhahood through the practice of healing and rebalancing the outer and inner elements."

----------------------------------------

posted in Full Enlightenment - 4 replies

disbelief

2009-07-23T04:17:33Z

As I gain more awareness, it seems to me there is no god, astrology is bunk, and everything started going to hell when eMpTyV cancelled Headbanger's ball.

(I'm serious about the nontheist and astrology bit, though.)

posted in Full Enlightenment - 25 replies

SO, confused...

2009-05-04T07:19:15Z

~hello all , im new to this TRIBE, and really dont know tht much , b8ut I grew up in a really heavt relgiuos family and live in the bible belt, where they hit oyu over the head of you dont believe in their way, I must say in some way that I have come to some realization that Im on a journey of self awareness!! Im not sure what all this means or what im feeling , but about 6 months ago , its all started with a one thing and then lead to another and etc.. ANd ever since then I have been on a self journey of truth and love and a cosmic conneted feeling with universe as one . I feel really like the truth have been revealed!! For years i have reseached many cultures and beliefs and so fascinated and always been somewhat connected to a big puzzle that I have to put together.. Is this a journey for men or what is self awarness , and i have told people this and I feel a differnet way of believing and people think im crazy , and say TRUST IN THA LORD AND I JUST HAVE A HARD TIME WITH THIS ALL!!!! plz help me understand this!!!!! thx to you all!!!!!!!!!!!

posted in Full Enlightenment - 16 replies

THE ENERGY BEHIND ENLIGHTENMENT

2009-01-30T01:15:23Z

Most people use ten percent or less of the Brain. Through the awakening of Kundalina energy the brain can organically evolve to a higher performance. No time has been spent investigating perhaps the most powerful energy of nature. Religious experience and its root.

Kundalini is the evolutionary potency in all humans. A fundamental bioenergy. It comes from an Indian word meaning “to join the soul with the cosmic soul,” In the ancient Indian language Sanskrit it is a term referring to a coiled force or energy originating at the base of the spine, and seated near the sex organs a coiled up sleeping snake. Implies latent energy or potential to expand. Serpent Power when activated travels up the seven chakras which are the nerve centers along the spinal cord and enlightens the mind. Expanding consciousness the nirvana of Buddha. It is responsible for human evolution and all-psychic abilities genius and spiritual illumination. Kundalini is the biological way to expand the mind.

Kundalini is the “secret” behind yoga and all other esoteric psychology’s and genuine occult mysteries. A scientifically measurable biochemical essence Kundalini is the substance that is the nourishment of consciousness. It penetrates the nervous system and influences the nerves to become the instrument of higher consciousness. This subtle substance is a snake-like force that fuels the mind in order to sustain a more active state, producing an awakened Kundalini individual, Note: snakes have two hemi penises and the power to hypnotize.

Such inner power is represented by the two snakes on King Tut’s headdress and the feathered serpent of Mexico and South America, The serpent in the Garden of Eden. The upward flow of Kundalini nectar (prana force, bioplasmic stream) is concentrated in the reproductive fluids of both men and women. When Kundalini is activated a reverse action takes place, feeding the center of the brain. “cavity of Brahma” in the brain’s ventricular cavity. Kundalini is the power that controls it. All great saints’’ mystics’ poets and people of genius, as well as the insane were influenced in this way.

If an experiment were performed it would prove the existence of the Kundalini force and show its physiological effects on the body. It could bridge the gap between science and mysticism and show the essential truth of religious experience and tradition. Religion has always been a companion of humanity. Religion came to guide humanity. No scientist could doubt the reality of this phenomenon once it has been observed and measured.. Such an experiment would uncover the vale of darkness and delusion under which humanity has been living. This evolutionary force needs publicity and actual proof would provide it. The results will speak for themselves. It will be a discovery more important than anything that has preceded it.

It is only from an awakened perspective that such observation can be made and this potential lies within everyone. As humanity evolved from cave men to the United Nations it becomes inevitable that this discovery will come to light and that there is indeed a purpose. A planned creation to our being. God protects our blue-green planet earth from the inferno of intergalactic space. Why? Because humanity has to attain to other states of consciousness for which all these recourses are needed to do this. We have been granted an intelligence to make the best use of it.

Life’s purpose and evolution’s power lead to cosmic laws, which must be obeyed for nature’s divine grace within us all to come to light. These laws as spoken of in all religions occult and mystical beliefs describe a path to enlightenment. As great empires have come and gone, so too must humanity’s faiths change.

My teacher, the late Pundit Gopi Krishna, an Indian Yogi-scientist and world renowned expert of Kundalini who has written over twenty books on the subject states, “We all know what happened whenever a political system became despotic and oppressive, a social system exacting and corrupt, and a religious system excessively authoritarian and dogmatic. There arose a demand for revision and reform. Political revolutionaries, reformers and prophets appeared on the scene, The old system was overthrown often with dreadful bloodshed, suffering and pain and a new one installed in its place. We have to cooperate with inner evolution.”

What is needed for a more positive harmonic peaceful and prosperous existence is a fuller understanding of humanity’s need for god. As society accelerates the brain must work increasingly beyond the point of balance. We are giants of intellect and dwarfs of the spiritual. We give no time to the spirit. Bringing on grave consequences. Gopi Krishna says. “ We have given too much emphasis to the material side of life at the cost of the spiritual side.” Time must be set aside for prayer, meditation, yoga or some other spiritual act in order to keep life’s evolutionary needs in balance and maintain inner sanity. Yoga meditation provides a channel for the opening of a powerful energy (inspiration) which can enable anyone to blossom into a genius, an artist, a poet, a mystic.

If this force awakens in an impure or out of balance form it can result in evil genius fanaticism delusions of grandeur, or mental illness (like manic depression and schizophrenia). There is a lot that is not understood that kundalini research will explain.

The brain is subject to the influence of countless factors connected with the life environment and the family history of an individual. When even slightly tainted or stained do to the pressure of reality or various causes such as wrong mode of life, unhealthy environment, faulty heredity, shock, frustration, repression, tension and numerous other factors. If the mind is abnormal the brain too must be a shareholder in the abnormality. There are subtle changes in some neuronic structures in the cranium. The real root of the abnormality is an impure or toxic condition of the prana. If you do not live a disciplined life then the awakening of this center can be unhealthy. A distorted vision of the same power. It means that the system is not pure and that the energy is not working in a healthy way.

There is a positive spiritual energy force within us all. Which has a physical counterpart in the human body that feeds a certain portion of the brain cavity of Brahma. This is a living electricity or intelligent energy that is needed to open the brain. The macrobiological changes and its effect can be observable and scientifically verified. Elevations of consciousness can only occur through the transformation brought by kundalini and by no other agency.

Nature shows compassion to humanity in order to help guide us safely through transgressions. God to me is a universal god that is not tied to any one organized religion. It gives us chance after chance. But when we digress off the path unhealthy results occur. We can not blame nature but ourselves. We have intelligence, we have reason, and we have learning. But if by having everything we ignore it then of course nature has no alternative except to teach us by suffering. Heaven is always merciful and all compassionate.

Great prophets, mystics, inventors, sages and people of genius have come to guide our race towards evolution’s goal. The study of the past will show the common thread within these great men and woman. Study is needed in order to educate us about how life should be led to be more in harmony with the forces of nature, which govern our life. A life of humility – love – purity - truth - moderation and compassion.

But how can we prove kundalini’s effect on the body? We can perform an experiment in a controlled environment. This experiment would take on hundred individuals with a healthy average intellect - normal typical people all with a great urge to awaken with a deep passion for spiritual matters and who are prepared to mold their lives in consort with the spiritual laws. Men and women aged twenty to thirty five. They would be put in a peaceful environment and subjected to various tests over a period of five years or more.

Scientists can observe them as the subjects try to awaken their kundalini. They will awaken to differing degrees. Tests will document the physiological changes that occur and will provide the empirical proof of what happens to the body as the kundalini force is awakened. I hypothesis that there are definitive biological differences in the blood, the cerebrospinal fluid and the composition of the brain matter in its subtle layers. Research on brain mapping. EEG ceg ces and the electricity in the body may show the kundalini force. The brain activity will be increased and its effect will be found all over the body. There will be metabolic processes, which can be measured. There will be physiological changes, which can be measured. This will convince the biologist that this change of the mind of the brain has physiological counter part. The result will start humanity towards a greater understanding of this evolutionary mechanism.

Once it is proved that the potential to awaken lies within everyone and is the most valuable asset we have, people will strive for it. The result on humanity will be comparable to the splitting of the spiritual atom. Instead of releasing a nuclear holocaust it will unleash the beginning of a utopian age, our cosmic destiny that can transform a mortal into an immortal and eternal source of happiness.

The awakening of these energies produces genius in mortal man or woman. Creativity, love and compassion emerge and pathways are opened to a future, awakened humanity. We will become the trailblazers of our own inevitable destiny. A utopian age of peace and harmony will follow. All political and spiritual processes will be developed for the highest good. Individuals will develop their “inner Sun” to the fullest during their lifetime. Kundalini research is part of an evolutionary force that compels us to look for enlightenment as an experience accessible to all. To awaken is the goal nature has set for us.

The time is right for we can use state of the art technology to study the phenomenon. We can study the common thread that lies at the root of all religion mysticism which is to guide humankind’s understanding of evolutionary change The understanding of kundalini is now becoming provable for the first time.

Sigmund Freud in fact understood that the libido is directly responsible for mental imbalances. At some point in time we will discover that all we know can be reduced to the bio-chemical. This center of the brain cavity of Brahma is still undiscovered but could be called the “third eye” or the “philosopher’s stone”. Kundalini will for the first time reveal how energy is supplied to the brain and that it is superintelligent. Freud’s concept about libido is of a psychic energy drawn from the libidinous tendencies in human beings. Which is to say the reproductive energy but only from a psychic point of view. He does not say that it has organic roots. This is what famed psychologist Wilhelm Reich emphasizes that this libido must have roots deep in the biochemical structure of the body.

The sex organs in a state of awakened kundalini produces a vast amount of fluid to feed the newly activated part of the brain. Sexual energy may well be directly connected to a mechanism that is affected by evolutionary advancement. Kundalini is the fundamental bioenergy stored primarily in the sex organs. This basic life force is normally associated with the genitals for simple continuance of the species by providing a sex drive. The tie in to the human sex drive and higher consciousness must be explored. Why do men have ejaculation while asleep or wake up with erect penises. There is a force of nature that needs physical release to be sane.

It is called the “goddess Kundalini” or “Mother Nature” because a mother’s love is similar to the bliss of higher consciousness. Woman have more feelings! Life is part of them - menstruation each month reminds them of that. Soulmates, man-woman have intercourse to prolong the race (children). Plus experience the love, kundalini evolutionary force of completion, happiness and bliss that keeps growing.

Sexual or relaxation exercises may release inner pressure of an over-taxed libido. An evolutionary super-nectar, extraordinary life force feeds the mind, a kissing food of unlimited bliss. The sublimation raising up of sex energy is the basic lever of all spiritual disciplines. But the all-inclusive nature of sex energy is a misnomer. Reproduction is but one of the aspects of the life energy of which the other theater of activity is the brain.

Humanity’s basic needs are for sex, god and a need for prayer to control our environment i.e.. hope within everyone lies the ability to awaken. Humanity needs love to balance our own unbalanced state and give us time to meditate, to control our over-taxed brain. Humanity’s sex drive may well be the only time some people relax from their hectic lifestyles. There is a need to just kick back and enjoy. Sex could be a form of deep meditation and experience between two soul mates. Loves deep blissful passion, kundalini’s purest expression an active prayer one of the most powerful forces in the universe. A positive experience that ends in an explosion of uncontrollable bliss. However for the average person, sex is not a deep meditation but is merely a physical release, a small slice of love’s true potential.

What is needed is that deep magnetism of love - a yin/yang of a universal constant. First came the big bang theory for the creation of the universe, now the love theory of creation states that the universe is a constant - always was here. That pure love magnetism, that yin/yang. Example. Trees love earth. Earth love the sky the sky loves the stars space… Love is consciousness … The universe is male and female and in love with both forces.

Suppression of sexuality out of contempt or hatred of our lower nature is an act of ignorance leading only to atrophy of the sexual system. Celibacy is contrary to nature. Since enlightenment is an evolutionary process with heredity playing an important role stamping the genera of the enlightened so that their biological gains through spiritual disciplines can be passed to their progeny. DNA research will eventually discover the consciousness gene.

Sexual energy has been represented in ancient art and statues by an erect organ. Showing the upward streaming of the reproductive essence that effects the transformation of consciousness.

In order to discover the factual evidence behind consciousness, one must first study kundalini energy and its effects. Scientific proof will free humanity to accept the fact that within everyone lies the temple of god leading to a clear realization of our own divine nature. Man’s incomprehensible inner bliss and oneness with divinity and a way of life that overpowers doing wrong or any other action that goes against this cosmic evolutionary force. The misunderstanding of kundalini has led to environmental decline that seems rooted to ultimate destruction of Planet Earth i.e. ozone layer, burning of rain forests, religious wars and terrorism, rape and murder….

It is one relationship not just to their own kundalini but also towards each other. It is the combination of the two that will lead not only to harmony but also to sharing and ultimately to progress. The appeal especially in these times is kundalini which offers hope promise. There is negative energy (i.e. ours) that can be transformed into positive communal conscience which will try to eradicate feelings of helplessness, negativity, pain and the burden of feeling isolated.

Why are people so selfish? Due to not having an understanding of kundalini. Just desperation, helplessness and power struggles which lead to hurting others and ourselves or apathy both of which have a profound effect on our history and the mood of the energy.

Our goal and objective is to create a paradise on earth. A peaceful co-existence, long lives, greater achievements and more freedom. A utopian society living by the laws uncovered by the experiment. A union with the divine is a sum total of the physical laws of the universe. We are in the process of taking the next evolutionary leap. The new century is here.

The study of what lifestyle would be best to advance ones inner potential is a task that may take eons to complete. With the help of divine grace may we free the veil that covers the eyes of the blind masses. We who have been chosen for this colossal task are the humble instruments of this evolutionary force. We will do our part to understand this unfathomable awareness of our eternal souls. The universe is ruled by an intelligent power! Consciousness does not change in birth or death it is bigger than our individual soul. Consciousness is an eternal om...

posted in Full Enlightenment - 2 replies

Spiritual Word Games

2009-01-28T02:00:31Z

Hi Tribe

Haven't been posting on Tribe in awhile but I finished writing this and it seemed like a good thing to keep in mind for internet spiritual discussions.

Spiritual Word Games

Humans seek emotional security. We want to feel good about ourselves. Deep down, we rarely achieve those good feelings because the “self” we wish to validate is built on a fantasy we have created rather than our true essence. In the struggle to keep our self-image positive, we even distort our spiritual values and beliefs in service of our egos. We play spiritual word games.

We are identified with our egos. The ego is that collection of thoughts and feelings about ourselves which is based on our past. The ego wants to feel good about itself. The ego rarely enjoys genuine fulfillment because it is not real; it’s made up of ideas and concepts, rather than of true Being. It’s bound to be insecure. The ego compares itself with its perception of other people. It seeks validation in reaching a superior comparison. If you know something that others don’t, you think you’ll feel better. If you prove somebody wrong, you feel special.

Humans are creatures of conditioning. We are taught as children how to approach the world and we model our approach to new activities based on our past actions and successes. Whether it’s in the field of school, business or romance, we’ve learned to climb the ladder of success by molding ourselves relative to the predominant culture (or counter-culture) and rising in stature with effort, cunning, and increasing sophistication. We learn to evaluate the status of others by their dress, demeanor and company. We learn our place.

It shouldn’t be surprising then, that when we find the spiritual path, some of us apply our worldly formulas of success to it. We try hard, study the literature, use the jargon, and adopt the dress and mannerisms of the spiritual culture we are adopting.

It’s worth contemplating the pitfalls of the egoic model of spiritual advancement so we don’t waste our time building a new, seemingly improved, personality that’s merely a more self-righteous version of the unhappy person we’ve become.

With that in mind, I’d like to address playing “Spiritual Word Games.”

I call it “Spiritual Word Games” when a person manipulates spiritual concepts for ego reinforcement or ego justification. Here are some examples that might be called “Spiritual Word Games:”

“Everything is illusion. Nothing really happens so you shouldn’t be upset when I skin you alive.”

“I feel my body is telling me it needs to eat a quart of ice cream.”

“It’s not my problem if my wife is upset that I’m going to the ballgame instead of her family dinner. I’m detached about it.”

“God is in everything, even in this line of cocaine. I see the perfection in everything.”

“You say you feel divine love within you but someday you’ll realize that Love just ‘is’ and there is no ‘within’ and ‘without’.

We don’t need to debate if there is truth at some level in the statements above. They are “Spiritual Word Games” if their intent is to manipulate people, inflate the ego, or justify selfish actions. You have to be honest with yourself about ‘why’ you say something. ‘What’ you say is merely the content concocted for the intent. The temptation to be dishonest with ourselves is itself a warning that we are avoiding truth in favor of an upgraded rendition of our illusions.

“Spiritual Word Games” often rely on selectively surfing the layers of relative truth in search of what we want. Detachment arises from the virtue of accepting reality as it is, of remaining contented in the Self. But detachment makes a poor excuse for not caring about people’s feelings. If our actions are selfish but we detach ourselves from their consequences, we’re trying to work a loophole in the cosmic scheme, trying to claim a karmic exemption. To forgo justifying our actions doesn’t mean condemning yourself. Just be aware. Forgive your own folly as your forgive the folly of others, with understanding and compassion.

If we have our own bliss, we don’t have to grasp at the world for happiness or validation.

“Spiritual Word Games” can also mean using the Absolute level in support of some relative or selfish idea.

It’s true that a stick of chalk is made of vibrating energy; that doesn’t mean we can use it for a camera battery.

If you think you can smoke cigarettes without consequence because “Everything is God” then you might consider a meal of Dog excrement, that’s God too right?

If “the world is just an illusion” and “nothing ever happened,” why bother posturing yourself as spiritually superior to anybody else?

In India there is a story of a man whose Guru told him “Everything is God” The man went to a parade and fearlessly stepped in front of a mad elephant, even though the rider of the elephant was waving for him to run. The elephant squashed him but he managed to survive. His friends asked him why he stood in the Elephant’s way. He said he thought that since everything was God, that he should be safe in front of the Elephant. They reminded him that the driver who warned him to flee the elephant was also God.

Using spiritual knowledge or dogma to justify what we want to believe is a temptation for mainstream religious people as well. A passage from Leviticus is commonly cited to prove biblically that homosexuality is “an abomination.” Those same people would never dream of following the dietary laws of Leviticus, nor endorsing its view of slavery nor the death penalty for minor crimes of morality.

Beware of this phenomenon in Love and Relationships as well. It’s easy to demand unconditional love and non-violent communication when you’ve mistepped, just make sure you give as well as receive those blessings.

Spirituality is a state of “Being” and not a state of “Believing.” The ability to be very present and centered in pure “Being” with an open heart makes a person especially spiritual. Expertise with spiritual word games is a cosmetic that attempts to make us look better but doesn’t add anything real or enduring to our inner beauty.

It’s not only words that we use to make ourselves feel more spiritual. We learn to dress a certain way, speak in certain tones, and act according to our image of what “spiritually advanced” looks like.

On one level, projecting a spiritual image can lead to progress. There is a certain power to “Fake it until you make it.” When you behave according to your intent, you strengthen the energy of it, and release past patterns. We can choose to face the light, decide to be happy, and embrace truth. Our energy will flow into the mold of our intent and establish a new pattern that serves us better.

But if the motive behind our spiritual fashion is to climb the social ladder of a group, to influence the perceptions and opinions of our community, or to convince ourselves that we are better than we fear we are, then we are cheating ourselves out of the bliss that comes from a spiritual heart.

It’s hard to love people when we are rating ourselves against them in our minds.

Ironically, people don’t particularly like those who appear superior to them and they can sense when someone takes pleasure in their assumed superiority.

Peace and Love are our very nature. Seeking fulfillment from playing spiritual games means looking to your self-image for satisfaction. That’s bound to divide your personality from the Source of your Love. You are satisfaction itself if you open yourself to BEING. Immersed in your contented bliss, you see the best in people, you bring out the best in people, and your communion with the world banishes thoughts of ranking yourself or elevating your status.

It’s hard to get used to the idea that being yourself is more a matter of undoing habits, distractions and illusions than of building an upgraded persona. It’s easy to get energetic and enthusiastic about doing something. Letting go of our old doings while remaining content with ‘openness in Being’ is subtler. Our habitual desire to fall into the tracks of our old ways makes us restless for the comfort of the familiar. Be patient with the restlessness and just observe the tendency to cast past habits into new ideas. The energy of the past will dissipate when we stop feeding it. It just takes a little time.

Don’t judge yourself or be disappointed if you catch yourself indulging in some spiritual ego. That would just be another, more negative, expression of that ego. They are twin sides of the same insecurity: the desire to be ‘good enough’ and the fear that we are not ‘good enough’. Treat yourself with the same love and compassion that you would offer others. Accepting yourself goes hand in hand with accepting others.

So the trick is to ‘be present” with your motives and actions, without denial or judgment. Compassionately and honestly observe yourself. Maintain your awareness of your thoughts and feelings. Pointless spiritual games will lose their meaning when seen in the light of Awareness. The ‘Observer’ who can be aware of our thoughts and feelings without judgment is the gateway to the real self. Observe as the Self by Being the Self. The “thinker” that can lament about our weaknesses and failures is a facet of an illusory identity that separates us from Truth and Love. The ‘observer’ can be aware of the thinking without getting wrapped up in it. Don’t lose yourself in the train of thoughts.

It’s good to recognize these contrary forces that can be primary obstacles to transformation: we say we want to change because we’re not satisfied, and yet we habitually inhabit our usual state of consciousness because it’s a familiar rut that’s a challenge to unlearn. Stop playing the ego games you are addicted to by observing yourself playing them. Let go of inner assumptions about who you are that are really just habits and past conditioning.

Learning to step away from your habitual state of consciousness is one of the most powerful transformative skills you can learn, because otherwise, whatever you learn and do will be undone by your unconscious will to cling to the familiar.

Reside in your own BEING and observe. Embrace yourself and others with the Love that springs from within you. Abiding in yourself and being present and open to the world around you without judgment is a new orientation toward life that takes a willful mindfulness to establish as new awareness. Once you’ve lived in mindfulness for awhile, the peace and fullness of your being will make reverting to old negativity seem unthinkable.

Most people have lived in a negative bubble for so long that layers of mental and emotional clutter have obscured the wellspring of Peace and Love that is their own Being. They might have to endure a period of emptiness as they take out the inner trash before the inner light begins to shine. If spiritual work feels unrewarding at first, be patient and nurture yourself. The inner trash needs to be taken out sooner or later. Once you have observed negativity and tension within yourself, you understand that it doesn’t serve you. If you have to bear the sight and smells of your stinky inner trash while you purge yourself of it, bear with it realizing it’s better to be free from it than to have it darkly festering within you.

It’s only a matter of time and transformation before you know Peace as your very nature each moment.

Love yourself, Be yourself, and the world will shine in beauty around you.

Achala Baba

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Enlightenment experience

2008-12-25T00:13:47Z

I got enlightened accidentally when I was just short of my 18th birthday. I was sitting in between some speakers listening to music when I had the thought that I wasn't concentrating on what I was listening to but rather my thoughts were drifting around. I decided to try to focus just on the music. As I did this my back spontaneously arched backwards and, at the point when I felt my consciousness merge with the music, I felt a sort of liquid light go up my spine and explode inside my head seemingly going out to infinity. When I opened my eyes I "saw" what I had looked at before, and "heard" what I had only listened to before. I felt an intense loving energy emanating from my heart area and the centers of my palms. My eyes were soft. Suddenly I just understood things and mostly I felt that, despite the way it seems, everything is perfect in this moment. That state lasted about 9 hours. I repeated it to a lesser degree a few days later but haven't been able to since. I had no idea what had happened to me but after looking into various things I decided I had had an experience with kundalini. I've had some similar experiences in bioenergetic psychotherapy where I was suddenly "clear", as I call it, but that's been a while now, too. Needless to say, these sorts of experiences change your perception of what life is about. I've spent much of my life thinking about enlightenment. You can't get around the fact that it's thee most important thing because without being in that state you really are not perceiving reality as it is, nor being who you really are.
The model I think best describes my enlightenment experience is the zen one. They would say I had a few mini-enlightenments called kensho. The window opens for a while and then closes. Satori or samadhi is when it opens and stays open. Like I said above, you can't really see things the same way as others after you experience these sorts of things, nor can you really communicate their importance to those who haven't. For me that meant that I couldn't participate in regular middle class society so I became an artist to make a living and have had a lifelong interest in alternative healing. I felt if I could find the true healing method it would somehow lead back to enlightenment. I'm beginning to see, though, that enlightenment itself IS the true healing method. Without being enlightened your thoughts are not correct. Actions and emotions flow from that and this is what ultimately leads to dis-ease. Therefore, enlightenment is health in the ultimate sense. Anything else only serves to patch you up for a while so you can keep pursuing it. That's, in fact, why ayurvedic medicine was created as the healing adjunct to yoga.
So if anything but enlightenment is is just sort of spinning your wheels then how to accomplish it? Yoga is certainly a time honored way but I'm not so sure how effective. I commented to a yoga teacher on how many millions of people are doing these sorts of things and yet only a few seem to reach the goal. When I look back on what happened to me what it was was that "I" merged with something outside of myself, the music. Music I've read is associated with the largest number of mystical experiences such as this. But the thing is, you could pick anything really and have an experience of oneness with it. So what is the best thing to merge with? I still think it may be music or at least a sound. Music, sound, seems to go into the mind in a way that is different from anything else. I have certain songs that are purely instrumental and yet cause me to weep when I hear them. I don't know why but they penetrate that deeply into me. I know many people have felt this. Certainly you can just put on your favorite record and try to become one with the music but I've tried that and it's hard to do when you know what you are trying to do. I think my initial innocence as to what was happening allowed it to happen. Otherwise, the ego steps in and messes it up. What I think needs to be developed is some sort of biofeedback device. As you move closer to the sound, whatever measurement that is, the instrument senses changes in brainwaves and increases the frequency and/or amplitude. It's basically a system that facilitates the merging together of two points, you and the sound. Perhaps this already exists. That's one reason I'm posting this, to find out. Otherwise, I'm just sharing my experience, thoughts, and suggestions. This is so important that we can't just leave it to chance.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 15 replies

Ganesh ( Ganapati ) the Hindu Buddhist Deity : practices references and transmission

2008-12-24T18:03:00Z

Hi FE'ers. Sorry I missed you earlier. Here it is. Still very useful.
Acarya KT

Keywords : Ganapati / Ganesh the Elephant Headed God of Classical India, Mantra and Praise of Ganapati, Deity yoga, Tantric empowerment, Overlapping Hindu / Buddhist mantra culture, Vedacarya Thomas Ashley-Farrand, Sakya Lineage and Sakya Monastery, Seattle Washington.

“To those for whom these village fires still have meaning:
Oh, may your own most beautiful Animal of Light come safely to you!”
from the Last Whole Earth Catalog

On 13 July in Seattle Washington a Ganapati empowerment will be offered at Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism. The guru bestowing this empowerment is the tantric master of Sakya Monastery, His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya Rinbochay. See www.sakya.org for more information.

For this reason it is timely and appropriate to provide some basic teaching and perspective on Ganapati, and in particular an esoteric Hindu Ganapati mantra and also a Sanskrit Buddhist praise of Ganapati. Many diverse teachings on this deity in Hindu form are available on the internet ( under both Ganapati and Ganesh ).

An excellent introductory summary for Ganapati / Ganesh is available online at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha

The Buddhist Ganapati is also referenced in the Tibetan Buddhist traditions of the Nyingma ( e.g. Longchen Nyingtik ) and Gelugpa lineages ( see practice texts for www.fpmt.org ). There is also Buddhist practice of Ganapati in the esoteric Buddhist Japanese tradition known as Shingon, which came East via China and not Tibet.

Briefly, Ganapati means Lord of the Troop, and Ganesh basically means Elephant Headed One. Ganapati is known by the title “Remover of Obstacles” or “Lord of Obstacles”. He carries or represents the enormous power of the Elephant. He is often accompanied by two female consorts Riddhi and Siddhi ( Magical Accomplishment and Spiritual Accomplishment ).

Ganapati is very prominent and even central in Hindu practice and is often evoked at the beginning of important engagements or projects, such as making a journey or starting employment, or beginning a meditation practice session. I have seen dance evocation of Ganapati at the beginning of a Hindu temple dance concert. Ganapati is one of the main practices of Hindu business people for success in their commercial ventures.

Ganapati is strongly associated with the “national spirit” or Mother India as well as her earliest roots. In the distant past elephants were used throughout India to clear land for agriculture, and also as war elephants. More recently, public Hindu celebrations were banned by the occupying British and the outlawed Ganapati ceremonies were brought forth, successfully, to rally India against foreign rule.

It is said that the long “History of India” was transcribed by the deity Ganapati as given by Rishi Visvamitra. Many of the key texts of Sanatana Dharma ( Hinduism ) were written down by Ganapati. So, this practice is a primary connection to Vedic Culture. Due to this, Ganapati is also practiced by students to help with their secular school exams.

Ganapati has a very ambivalent status in Buddhist tantra, the esoteric form of Buddhist meditation which relies on yoga, deity recitations and mystic practices in general. On the one hand, Ganapati is often considered unfriendly towards Buddhist practitioners in general, and propitiated or banished or subjugated so as to not cause problems. Thus, a subjugated Ganapati serves as the throne for the deity Mahakala in his Six Armed form. This reflects the fact that some but not all Hindu practice / culture affirms Buddhist teachings.

On the other hand, there are specifically Buddhist practices for Ganapati, as for other Hindu deities such as Shiva, Sarasvati and so forth. The Sakya lineage carries Buddhist deity yogas for the Hindu deities Uma Devi / Parvati and Garuda, as well as Ganapati. ( In Southern Buddhism, such as in Sri Lanka Theravada monasteries, it is common to propitiate the Hindu deity Visnu for outer or worldly benefits. )

More broadly, many Buddhist schools share with the Sanatana Dharma ( i.e. Hindu practice and culture ) a significant focus on Ayurveda, or spiritual medicine. The Buddhist deity Bhaisajyaguru, or Medicine Buddha, is a deity of Buddhist spiritual medicine and Ayurveda in both Hindu and Buddhist forms is more or less identical in practice, not just similar.

In the classical Sakya tradition, this Twelve Arm Ganapati is actually an emanation of Avalokitesvara, the beloved and universal Buddhist deity of liberating compassion. Thus, it is reasonable to view this empowerment as being a definite connection to Avalokitesvara and the general practices of Avalokitesvara.

It is also very important to note that with this ( or any ) tantric Buddhist empowerment comes the general set of universal Buddhist vows, such as the Ten Precepts ( rejection of harmfulness, theft, dishonesty, ill-will and so forth ), and the Bodhisattva vows. The Bodhisattva vows focus on active humanitarian service in the most broad and deep and long term ways, starting with rejection of limiting ideas such as racism, sexism, tribalism, and all cultural divisiveness.

For some basic teachings on Buddhist theory and practice, see the following at Asian Classics:
http://www.asianclassics.org/research_site/webdata/education.html

The Principal Teachings of Buddhism
Buddhist Refuge
The Vows of the Bodhisattva

For an excellent general introduction to Buddhist practice, with a focus on Buddhist tantra, see the following book by Kalu Rinpoche:
The Dharma: That Illuminates All Beings Like the Light of the Sun and the Moon, State University of New York Press, 1986, ISBN 0-88706-157-5

http://www.amazon.com/Dharma-Illuminates-Beings-Impartially-Light/dp/0887061575

This book is short, direct, accessible, classical and effective. It should be. It was transcribed as spoken directly to westerners by one of the greatest Buddhist masters of the last century.

To take the tantric Buddhist empowerment of Ganapati or any other is to take Mahayana Buddhist vows, as well as to become authorized to do magical kinds of practice, such as mantra recitation to develop the power of the deity. The point is that in this case, the Hindu/ Buddhist deity Ganapati is practiced within a classical Buddhist context, not otherwise. Thus the above mentioned Buddhist references are of central importance in this transmission and practice.

As a brilliant red deity aspect, Twelve Armed Ganapati is not only a remover of obstacles and disharmonious circumstances, but also a magnetizing deity, i.e. a deity that “warms up” social situations, and develops strongly positive interpersonal engagement.

On a yogic level, this deity ( in Buddhist deity yoga ) develops strength and power at the level of the navel point of the psychic energy body ( svadhisthana cakra ), although I cannot say more without transgressing tantric vows of secrecy. Note that the Hindu Ganapati is girded by snakes, representing kundalini energy, and is similarly associated with the energy at the base of the spinal column. All tantric transmissions are private, and their contents not to be discussed following initiation.

This is one of many specifically obstacle-removing diety yogas in Buddhist tantra. There are many others, but this one is definitely recommended for those who have a more Hindu-oriented background in culture and/ or personal karma. And as noted earlier, it is a connection to Avalokitesvara practice specifically, and to the outer Mahayana practices in general.

This can also be viewed ( speaking very unofficially ) as a connection to Hindu transmissions. ) For this reason I will now provide a specifically Hindu mantra for Ganapati, which has been confirmed. It is quite reasonable to say that on obtaining a Twelve Arm Ganapati empowerment, one may practice the following Hindu mantra as well.

Maha Ganapati Mantra
"Aum shrim hrim klim glaum gam
ganapataye vara varada sarva
janamme vashamanaya svaha"

Vedacarya Thomas Ashley-Farrand, from whom I have Laxmi transmission, has many introductory and also detailed teachings on Hindu mantra practice. See his website at
http://www.sanskritmantra.com/

The following is not an official representation, but I do have the Sakya lineage Ganapati transmission some twenty years back from HE Luding Khen Rinbochay. This Sakya initiation is for a Twelve Arm Red Ganapati, equivalent in many respects to the Hindu deity Ganesh or Ganapati. Many diverse teachings on this deity in Hindu form are available on the internet ( under both Ganapati and Ganesh ). The Buddhist Ganapati is also referenced in the Tibetan Buddhist traditions of the Nyingma and Gelugpa lineages.

From www.sakya.org :

07/13/2008
GANAPATI INITIATION
Offered by H. H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya
Sunday, July 13
Time: 10:00 am
Location: Shrine Room
Suggested Donation: $30 Public, $25 Members
Translator: Dr. Jeff Schoening
Ganapati made the commitment to help all beings to uphold the 3 trainings—moral behavior, meditation, wisdom— and, in particular, to provide the necessary materials and provisions for practitioners.
He protects one from obstacles at the beginning of any enterprise and also helps to increase wealth and power for the benefit of the Dharma.
His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya, head lama of Sakya Monastery, was born in Tibet in 1929. He continues the great Sakya lineage which began with Khon Konchok Gyalpo (1034—1102). He received teachings of the unbroken Khon lineage, the Sakya Vajrakilaya, the Hevajra and the complete Lamdre Tsogshe, from his father, H.H. Trichen Ngawang Thutop Wangchul, the last Sakya throne holder in Tibet. He also studied with many other great Buddhist teachers, including Dzongsar Khyentse Chökyi and Dingo Khyentse Robsal Dawa.
In 1960, H.H. J.D. Sakya was invited to work on a University of Washington research project on Tibetan civilization which was sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. At the request of students, he co-founded with H.E. Dezhung Rinpoche Sakya Tegchen Choling, a center for the study of Tibetan Buddhism and culture. In 1984, the center became the Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism.

The following is copyrighted material from The Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon, at
http://www.uwest.edu/sanskritcanon/index.html
specifically
http://www.uwest.edu/sanskritcanon/Stotra/Roman/stotra30.html

The source text is “ Source: Pandey, Janardan Shastri ed. Bauddha strotra Samgrah. Varanasi : Motilal Banarsidass, 1994”.

This is provided as a necessary and specific demonstration that classical Indian Buddhist culture incorporated Ganapati deity yoga as a tantric practice, and not for other purposes.
Ganesastotram

kharvam sthulataram gajendravadanam lambodaram sundaram
vidhnesam madhugandhalubdhamadhupavyalolagandasthalam|
dantodghatavidaritahitajanam sindurasobhakaram
vande sailasutasutam ganapatim siddhipradam kamadam|| 1||

herambah paramo devah karyasiddhividhayakah|
saibhagyarupasampannam dehi me sukhasampadam|| 2||

ekadantam mahakayam lambodaram gajananam|
sarvasiddhipradataram gangaputram namamyaham|| 3||

vande tam gananathamaryamanagham daridrayadavanalam
sundaadandavidhuyamanasamalam samsarasindhostarim|
yam natva surakoyayah prabhuvaram siddhim labhante param
sindurarunavigraham paripataddanambudharahrtam|| 4||

uccairbrahmandakhandadvitayasahacaram kumbhayugmam dadhanah
presannagaripaksapratibhatavikatasrotratalabhiramah |
devah sambhorapatyam bhujagapatitanusparddhivardhisnuhasta-
strailokyascaryamurtirjayati trijagatamisvarah kuñjarasyah|| 5||

ganapatisca herambo vidhnarajo vinayakah |
deviputro mahateja mahabalaparakramah || 6||

mahodaro mahakayascaikadanto gajananah|
svetavastro mahadiptastrinetro gananayakah || 7||

aksamalam ca dantam ca grhnan vai daksine kare|
parasum modakapatram ca vamahaste vidharayan|| 8||

nanapusparato devo nanagandhanulepanah |
nagayajñopavitango nanavidhnavinasanah || 9||

devasuramanusyanam siddhagandharvavanditam|
trailokyavidhnahartaramakhvarudham namamyaham|| 10||

sumukhascaikadantasca kapilo gajakarnakah |
lambodarasca vikato vidhnarajo vinayakah || 11||

dhumraketurganadhyakso bhalacandro gajananah |
vakratundah surpakarno herambah skandapurvajah || 12||

sodasaitani namani yah pathecchunuyadapi|
vidyarambhe vivahe ca pravese nirgame tatha|| 13||

samgrame samkate caiva vidhnastasya na jayate|
vidhnavallikutharaya ganadhipataye namah || 14||

sriganesastotram samaptam|

Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu!

In partial fulfillment of vajrayana teaching responsibilities,

Acarya KT

posted in Full Enlightenment - 7 replies

HH Phakchok Rinpoche and the Chokling Tersar Lineage of the Great Perfection : An Introduction and 2008 Tour Notes

2008-10-31T19:40:39Z

HH Phakchok Rinpoche and the Chokling Tersar Lineage of the Great Perfection : An Introduction and 2008 Tour Notes

Keywords: Esoteric Buddhist yoga ( buddhatantra ), Great Perfection / AtiYoga / dzogchen i.e. primordial awareness yoga, tantric Buddhist empowerment, non-sectarian tantric Buddhist practice ( Rimay ), HH Phakchok Rinpoche Tendzin Jigmey Drakpa, Orgyen Dorje Den Center ( San Francisco ), Chokling Tersar lineage ( Nyingma / Ancient School transmission of Indo-Tibetan vajrayana ).

NAMO GURU SRI PADMAKARAYE
Homage to Guru Padmasambhava.

This summer ( 2008 ) His Holiness Phakchok Rinpoche, a primary tantric Buddhist lineage holder, is on a major tour ( see below for events ), giving tantric Buddhist transmissions and teachings in the USA, Canada, and Europe. He is a younger major teacher in the Chokling Tersar tradition of Nyingma and Dzogchen ( see below ).

This lineage derives directly from Guru Padmasambhava, a most extraordinary Indian guru and a principal cofounder of the Buddhist tradition in Tibet. Today six million or more people practice teaching deriving from from Guru Padmasambhava, in for example the Tibetan traditions such as Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma, including some millions of East Asians ( Chinese Buddhists of esoteric Buddhist lineage ).

This is a very magical, very powerful, and very yogic style of transmission, especially in terms of the inner practices. It is well supported by many independent practice lineages, of which the Chokling Tersar Foundation is an important example both in the USA and Europe. It is well established in California and Denmark, and several major teachers of this tradition give teaching tours.

This sangha ( spiritual fellowship ) is of major importance because Chokling Tersar Foundation has a translation / publishing organization called Rangjung Yeshe. This is one of the main sources worldwide for core Nyingma and dzogchen publications. I have and use quite a few Rangjung Yeshe practice and teaching texts. They are highest quality and indispensible for all Nyingma and dzogchen practitioners in particular, and broadly useful.

One of the most important books ever published for tantric Buddhists is
"Dakini Teachings", by Padmasambhava, and this is from Rangjung Yeshe.
Another key example, from the same source, is
"Light of Wisdom", by Padmasambhava and Jamgon Kongtrul.

For a general background on dzogchen, or "primordial awareness yoga", it is well worthwhile to obtain the book
"The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra and Dzogchen", written by another important master of a parallel Nyingma lineage, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. This is about the best place to start for a book introduction to the inner teachings, which is descriptive only, and not practice per se.

Esoteric Buddhist yoga ( buddhatantra ) and Great Perfection ( dzogchen awareness yoga ) depend fundamentally on transmission, and so it is necessary to see a real teacher. Without a major transmission from an authentic guru, much or most of the teaching - and all of the yoga sadhana - does not work. Therefore I take this opportunity to make an important introduction.

( Please note that I DO NOT have any authority to represent Chokling Tersar Foundation, HH Phakchok Rinpoche, or any activity associated with this line of transmission. I am simple conveying what I know in a clear and definite way, to support this lineage and those who may benefit from it. I cannot make any promises that any of what is said here, or this kind of transmission, will solve any particular problem or give any particular result. The results are very personal and individualized. )

HH Phakchok Rinpoche Tendzin Jigmey Drakpa is not yet well known to the public, but is already having a great influence in transmitting key innermost teachings of tantra and dzogchen. Therefore it is auspicious and appropriate to make known this teacher and the availability of these teachings.

The qualifications of HH Phakchok Rinpoche are vast and profound ( see below for his autobiography ). He has highest-level authorization to give primary transmissions in both the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages, and is one of the few people who has a complete cycle of Sakya School tantric empowerments.

Two years ago I received a major dzogchen empowerment from this teacher, from within the Chokling Tersar, and personally confirm that his transmission is powerful and effective, not only as a tantric blessing / psychic cleansing, but also as a functional teaching and transmission. He is very direct and engaging and extraordinarily generous in his teaching. He is here to teach core precepts, not just bestow blessings. That means actual, whole person practice.

HH Phakchok Rinpoche gave me his card at the one time I was able to attend his transmission, so he is willing to personally engage students in a longer term sense. At that time he did lay on those present the general but significant requirement to Do A Daily Tantric Buddhist Practice, which is in fact the requirement of Guru Padmasambhava.

A daily practice typically means mantra recitation, as well as upholding ethical precepts of the Mahayana and Tantra. ( See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva_vows or better yet, the above book "Dakini Teachings" for teaching on outer and inner Buddhist ethics. ) A primary example of mantra discipline is Vajrasattva deity yoga, for which a short teaching is given at my tribe.net home under the Sanskrit picture for Hundred Syllable mantra.

A specific event listing for the Yangdak Heruka transmission and teaching to be given August 16, 17 & 18 follows. Orgyen Dorje Den can host at least 200 participants. This is a remarkably important group, and a "home fellowship" for me, though I have not seen them in many years. Their center teacher, Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche, is a great gift to the West. I have and use and recommend his books.

Basically, it is from the Eight Herukas Cycle which is associated with the Guhyagarbha Tantra, which was propagated as one of the primary practices of Guru Padmasambhava. This fully confers Vajrasattva, a key basic and continung practice, and *may* fully confer Great Perfection / Breakthrough as well ( no guarantee ).

Significant mantra teaching on the Eight Herukas is given in the remarkable book
"The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)", Publisher: Penguin Classics; Deluxe edition (January 30, 2007 ),# ISBN-10: 0143104942.

This is written in partial fulfillment of mahayana and tantric Buddhist teaching responsibilities, in support of His Holiness Phakchok Rinpoche, Orgyen Dorje Den and Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche, the Chokling Tersar lineage, and the benefit of as many people as possible.

Sarva mangalam! Siddhi rastu!

Acarya KT

http://www.phakchokrinpoche.org/events.htm
Events
H.H. Phakchok Rinpoche's 2008 Teaching Calendar
For more information on any of the below programs, please e-mail us at office@phakchokrinpoche.org.

San Francisco, California: Aug 15-19
Empowerments: Yangdak Heruka & Sangtik Korsum (Teaching and Advice)
Teachings: Advice and teaching on general Development Stage
Meditation Training - at Orgyen Dorje Den, Directions to Orgyen Dorje Den
Public Talks: The Great “I” (Berkeley Shambhala Center)
Great Longchenpa
E-mail: office@phakchokrinpoche.org

Toronto: August 27-Sept 1 – with H.E. Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche
Empowerment: Sangye Won
Teachings: Jewel Ornament of Liberation
Taklung Thangpa
Public Talk: The Great “I”

H.E. Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche
Empowerments: Vajrakilaya & Tara
Prosperity Vase Blessing & Tsok
Visit: Riwoche Society, riwoche.com
E-mail: pema@riwoche.com

Vancouver: September 5-7
Teaching: VajraYogini Program [ this is restricted to those who have the empowerment ]
Public Talks: The Great “I”
Meditation and Happiness
E-mail: Mara Shnay, mshnay@telus.net

Salt Springs Island: September 7-9
Empowerment: Medicine Buddha
Meditation Retreat
E-mail: Matthew, matthewphyllis@telus.net

Europe: Poland & Germany

Hamburg, Germany: Sept 20-21
Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo (Light of Wisdom)
E-mail: Arne Schelling, arne.schellingatgmx.de

Menz, Germany: Sept 22
Public Talk on The Great “I”
E-mail: Arne Schelling, arne.schellingatgmx.de

Berlin, Germany: Sept 23-24
Life Stories of Yeshe Tsogyal and Machig Labdron
The Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra
E-mail: Anne Siml, annesiml@yahoo.de

Greifswald, Germany: Sept 25-27
Public Talk on Compassion
Mind Training
E-mail: Anne Siml, annesiml@yahoo.de

Rangjung Yeshe Gomde – Denmark: Sept 29-30
Lotus Essence Tantra
Heart Sutra
Questions and Answers for Meditators
Website: www.gomde.dk
E-mail: Erik Pema Kunsang, erik@gomde.dk

Warsaw, Poland: October 2-5
Kunzang Thuktig Preliminary Practice
Mind Training
E-mail: Julia E. Wahl, karmayeshetsomo@gmail.com
Mobile: +48 608 079 909

The following events will be at:
Orgyen Dorje Den
2244 Santa Clara Ave
Alameda, CA 94501
http://www.orgyendorjeden.org/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coming this weekend, August 16, 17 & 18:
H.H. Phakchok Rinpoche, head of the Taklung Kagyu lineage and son of H.E. Chokling Rinpoche, nephew of H.E. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, and grandson of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, is coming to the San Francisco Bay Area from August 15-19 to give teachings and empowerments. Please plan to attend and spread the word regarding these precious teachings.
See phakchokrinpoche.org.
And for biographical info: http://phakchokrinpoche.org/lineage.htm
http://phakchokrinpoche.org/historyofpresentPK.htm

HH Phakchok Rinpoche will be giving the following empowerments and teachings at ODD.
Yangdak Heruka empowerment and teachings.
August 16 from 10 am to 12 pm and 2 to 4 pm.
When asked for some brief info about Yangdak Heruka, Rinpoche, translating from a text, replied the following in a phone call:
"Yangdak Heruka is the secret heart essence practice of Mahapandita Vimalamitra & Guru Padmasambhava. As a method to repair mistakes, purify broken samaya and reverse bad karma it is greater than even Vajrasattva. According to Ratna Lingpa, it is a supreme method for yogis to fulfill the root & branch samaya of vinaya, mahayana & vajrayana precepts & it will enable the practitioner to receive the 2 siddhis and have a long life. It requires accumulated merit from past lives to meet with these teachings and through practice you will see how fast the siddhis will be received. This terma is a revelation of Chogyur Lingpa--it is a short lineage--he revealed it on Guru Rinpoche Day from a Big Boulder. It is part of the Sangtik Korsum, which is a cycle of practice which also includes Vajrasattva & Vajrakilaya." This is the first time Rinpoche is giving the Yangdak Heruka empowerment in the USA.

Teachings on Sangtik Korsum cycle of empowerments, instruction on general development stage, and meditation training:
August 17 from 10 am to 12 pm and 2 to 4 pm
August 18 from 10 am to 12 pm and 2 to 4 pm
These teachings will relate to the specific cycle, Sangtik Korsum, but will also be applicable to whatever sadhana practice one is engaging.

The suggested donation is $100 for the three days, $35/ day & $20 per session.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orgyen Dorje Den
2244 Santa Clara Ave
Alameda, CA 94501
www.orgyendorjeden.org

From
http://www.riwoche.com/phakchok_rinpoche.html

Phakchok Rinpoche's emanation-basis is the Lord of Secrets Dharmevajra, the compiler of the teachings of the Great Secrets (Vajrayana) of all buddhas; the arhat Ananda, the foremost disciple of our teacher (Buddha Shakyamuni); Lhalung Palgyi Dorje, the direct disciple of the Second Buddha of Uddiyana (Padmasambhava); (Rechung) Dorje Drakpa, the lord of siddhas; and many others.
. . .
The reincarnation of this sublime master was the seventh Phakchok Rinpoche, Tendzin Jigmey Drakpa, born in the Year of the Iron Bird, 1981, of the seventeenth year cycle. The family he was born into is, among the six original clans, the Nangchen Tsangsar of the Khepaga line which were chiefly holders of the Barom Kagyü Dharma lineage, a family line who maintained an unbroken tradition of combining Kagyü and Nyingma.
. . .

Due to his outstanding brightness and inherent qualities from former training, he comprehended reading and writing, and when he later studied the topics of knowledge with Kungo Kalzang, Karma Urgyen Rinpoche's younger brother, he gained effortless understanding by simply hearing what was said.

Here is a description of the ripening empowerments and liberating instructions Phakchok Rinpoche has received from masters of the Sarma and Nyingma schools of all traditions:

From Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche he has received longevity empowerments, the Six Volumes of Jatsön Nyingpo, Gyachen Kadzö (of Jamgön Kongtrül).

From Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche he has received the empowerments of longevity.

From Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche he has received the empowerments for the Rinchen Terdzö, the complete empowerments and reading trans-missions for the Chokling Tersar, the Dzogchen Desum, the empowerments, reading transmissions and instructions for the Kunzang Tuktig, the empowerment of awareness-display and mind-instruction for Dzogchen, the complete empowerments and reading transmissions for the Root Volumes of Nyingtig, the Hundred Chö Empowerments, and the Namkha Gojey.

From Kyabje Taklung Shabdrung Rinpoche he has received the complete empowerments and reading transmissions of the Taklung Kagyü, and the complete empowerments and reading transmissions for the collected works and terma teachings of Jedrung Rinpoche.

From Kyabje Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche he has received the empowerments and reading transmissions for the Gyüdey Kündü.

From Sakya Dagtri Drölma Podrang he has received the complete Drubtab Kündü.

From his father, Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche, he has received the complete empowerments and reading transmissions for the Chokling Tersar.

From Dzongsar Khenchen Kunga Wangchuk he has received the reading transmission for the collected works of the Five Sakya Forefathers, the Prajñamula, Madhyamikavatara, and the 400 Verses, Sakya Pandita's Tsema Rigter, Tsema Namdrel, the Higher and Lower Abhidharma and other works.

From Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche he has received the reading transmission for the Tenngyur, the Great Collection of the Translated Treatises.

From Kyabje Penor Rinpoche he has received the complete empowerments for the Rinchen Terdzö.

From Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche he has received the complete reading transmissions for the Rinchen Terdzö.

From Arik Khenchen Petse Rinpoche he has received explanation to the Guhyagarbha Tantra and the Manjushri Nama Sangirti, as well as mind-instruction.

From Kyabje Trülshik Rinpoche he has received the complete empowerments for the Collected Works of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

From Kyabje Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche he has received the Tögal Cycle of Khenpo Ngakchung's Hearing Lineage, as well as mind-instruction.

. . .

This was translated by Erik Pema Kunsang, at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery, February, 2000.

www.choklingtersar.org

http://www.rangjung.com/gl/Chokling_Tersar.htm
Chokling Tersar, the New Treasures of Chokgyur Lingpa ( copyrighted )
During the ninth century, Buddhism was introduced from India into Tibet and its literature and culture has since been preserved in a way that has been unique in accuracy and truthfulness to tradition. Four decades ago, the occupation of Tibet by Communist China began an era of repression and systematic destruction of this thousand year old Buddhist culture. Shreds of this tradition reached the countries on the southern slopes of the Himalaya ranges - India, Nepal and Bhutan - in the hands of the few refugees who managed to escape alive. During the following years these areas have been the meeting-point and a forum of exchange between a large number of people from all countries of the world.

In response to the heart-wish of Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, the Chokling Tersar Foundation was established. It is in the spirit of wishing to protect and preserve one of the important contributions to the world's cultural heritage, as well as responding to a growing demand within North America, that the members of Chokling Tersar Foundation support the foundation through donations of effort, money and prayers.

Chokling Tersar literally means the 'new treasures of Chokgyur Lingpa' and owes it name to the great Tibetan Buddhist master of the 19th century. Chokgyur Lingpa lived from (1829-1870) and was regarded by the most reputable living masters of his time as one of the major tertons (revealer of hidden treasures) in Tibetan history. His teachings are widely practiced by both the Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The collection of treasures revealed by Chokgyur Lingpa together with its connected teachings are contained in the Chokling Tersar, a body of literature filling more than forty large volumes. In English translation each of these volumes would be between seven and eight hundred pages and the total would amount to approximately 30,000 pages. The connected teachings included in these forty volumes were written over the last 150 years, chiefly by his contemporaries Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgon Kongtrul, as well as by the subsequent upholders of the lineage down until today.

Kangyur - the TripitakaThe Chokling Tersar literature is meant to be studied and practiced as an addition to the traditional canonical scriptures of Tibetan Buddhism. These traditional scriptures are found in the Kangyur and Tengyur, the written words of Buddha Shakyamuni and their commentaries by learned Indian Masters. These two collections occupy respectively 104 and 273 large volumes.

In these scriptures are found detailed instructions on how to take full advantage of and imbue human life with its fullest meaning. These revealed scriptures were concealed by the 9th century Buddhist saint Padmasambhava with the expressed wish to be uncovered at specific times in the future. Many of them contain predictions for those times and which particular spiritual practices would be most beneficial for the people of those times.

Centers practicing the New Treasures of Chokgyur Lingpa:

Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery, Boudha, Nepal.
Lamas: Tsikey Chokling, Gyurme Dewey Dorje; Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche; Phakchok Rinpoche

Pema Ewam Chogar in Bir, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Lamas: Neten Chokling and Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche.

Tsikey Gompa in East Tibet.
Lamas: Chokling of Tsikey, Tsang-Yang Gyamtso; Tersey Tulku

Chokling Tersar Foundation, USA.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 2 replies

What if practice is a lie?

2008-10-29T20:24:12Z

Better yet, a sincere misunderstanding, begun long ago? A true intention, but crooked, not straight.
What if the truth is available freely, right now?
Do you want it?
What will you do to get it?
See how quickly the truth can be subjugated to serve some delusionary purpose?
How quickly illusionary hurdles arise between you and that?
Or is the root of the issue, this you I'm speaking too?
Is there really such a thing, as you?

posted in Full Enlightenment - 28 replies

The Mayan Sacred Calendar and Solar Wind

2008-06-02T11:09:35Z

The Mayan Sacred Calendar (the Tzolkin) is said to be a graphic representation of a Logic transmitted by star harmonics that unlock doors of Universal Consciousness and interdimensional reality. If so, it ought to sound something like solar wind, right. Having translated the Tzolkin into sound, we offer you a comparison between that and actual NASA recorded solar wind.

When the Tzolkin's harmonic Logic is sequenced in the sonic register and played back at high speed, it sounds very much like solar wind recorded by the Voyager spacecraft, also played back at high speed. The primary dif being the Tzolkin is composed of only 13 harmonics and the solar wind has them all.

Check it out:
http://www.darkmother.com/SolarwindTzolkinComparison

Enjoy! ;)

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

KUNDALINI AWAKENING--WAY TO FULL ENLIGHTENMENT

2008-04-21T19:12:07Z

What is kundalini?

``Kundalini'' literally means coiling, like a snake. In the classical literature of hatha yoga kundalini is described as a coiled serpent at the base of the spine. The image of coiling, like a spring, conveys the sense of untapped potential energy. Perhaps more meaningfully kundalini can be described as a great reservoir of creative energy at the base of the spine.
It's not useful to sit with our consciousness fixed in our head and think of kundalini as a foreign force running up and down our spine. Unfortunately the serpent image may serve to accentuate this alien nature of the image. It's more useful to think of kundalini energy as the very foundation of our consciousness so that when kundalini moves through our bodies our consciousness necessarily changes with it.

The concept of kundalini can also be examined from a strictly psychological perspective. From this perspective kundalini can be thought of as a rich source of psychic or libidinous energy in our unconscious.

In the classical literature of Kashmir Shaivism kundalini is described in three different manifestions. The first of these is as the universal energy or para-kundalini. The second of these is as the energizing function of the body-mind complex or prana-kundalini. The third of these is as consciousness or shakti-kundalini which simultaneously subsumes and intermediates between these two. Ultimately these three forms are the same but understanding these three different forms will help to understand the differerent manifestations of kundalini.

What is the difference between prana and kundalini? What is the difference between qi (or chi) and kundalini?

First let us try to relate to concepts from the same tradition - prana and kundalini. Prana has been translated as the ``vital breath'' and ``bio-energetic motility''; it is associated with maintaining the functioning of the mind and body. Kundalini, in its form as prana-kundalini, is identical to prana ; however, Kundalini also has a manifestations as consciousness and a as a unifying cosmic energy. One could ascribe these same aspects to prana as well so past a certain point these become distinctions without differences.

From the subjective standpoint of an individual actually experiencing the awakening of kundalini I have found three completely different opinions:

The first opinion is that a pranic awakening is only a prelude to a full kundalini awakening. Tibetan yogins that I have encountered consider the activation of prana (Tibetan: rlung) as merely a prerequisite for the activation of kundalini (Tibetan: gTummo). What's attractive about this viewpoint is that it explains the difference between the experience of simply having pleasant sensations in the spine and the much more powerful experience of having a ``freight-train''-like full kundalini experience.

The second opinion, espoused by Swami Shivom Tirth for example, is that prana and kundalini are absolutely equivalent and that it is not meaningful in any way to describe a difference between kundalini rising and prana rising. When posed with question as to how to distinguish between pleasant sensations that show some pranic-activity in the spine and the much more powerful experience Swami Shivom Tirth said that the difference is not in the nature of the activity but in the consciousness that observes it. If the consciousness that experiences the pranic activity is seated within the spine (or more correctly, the central channel, known as the sushumna), then the experience is felt much more powerfully.

The third opinion, espoused by the modern hatha yogin, Desikaran, is that pranic awakening is the true experience to be aimed for and kundalini is actually an obstruction. Desikaran sees the kundalini as a block in the central channel and thus the kundalini must be ``killed'' to make way for the prana. This is the most unusual view of the three.

The Chinese concept of qi (or chi) can be safely identified with the Indian concept of prana.

If all this seems confusing - don't worry, you're in good company. My conclusion is that these are all different terminologies for dealing with a common set of experiences. Any one of these viewpoints is adequate for describing the full range of experiences. What is probably more relevant is to distinguish two different experiences which are often confused. In one an individual experiences some pleasant energizing electric energy running along the spine. This experience itself brings about a wide range of experiences and results in vitality and sensitivity.

Another very distinct experience is the experience of kundalini entering the sushumna and rising up the spine. As soon as kundalini enters the sushumna this experience will completely overwhelm ordinary waking consciousness. From the moment that kundalini enters the sushumna there will no longer be a distrinction between the subjective consciousness which experiences and the object of experience. This experience much more profoundly transfigures consciousness.

If kundalini is universal, why do some kundalini yogins seem to have more kundalini-energy than others?

It's an intriguing question. If an individual's kundalini is viewed as simply a personal reservoir of a cosmic energy then why would one person appear to have more of a reservoir of kundalini energy than another? Nevertheless, this does appear to be the case. This is probably another advantage of the viewpoint that prana (or qi) is the same as kundalini.
Some Chinese texts distinguish between ``innate qi'' or ``pre-natal qi'' that one is born with and ``cultivated qi'' that can be developed. Clearly some people simply have more ``innate qi.'' This manifests as a stronger more resilient body and greater general vitality.

Through training those that have relatively weak ``innate qi'' may surpass those who have strong ``innate qi'' but do not train. There are many stories in the Chinese literature of Qi Gong about people who took up Qi Gong in order to improve their poor health became powerful martial artists or great qi gong masters. Of course those that have strong ``innate qi'' and also train their qi may develop the strongest qi of all.

What does kundalini have to do with spiritual enlightenment? What is the goal of kundalini yoga?

First we need a few concepts: In yogic anatomy the sushumna is the central channel and conduit for the kundalini energy that runs along our spine and up to the crown of our head. Along this channel are placed additional channel networks called cakras. These cakras are associated with major aspects of our anatomy - for example our throat, heart, solar plexus, and in turn these aspects of our anatomy are related to aspects of our human nature.
According to the literature of kundalini yoga our experience of these centers is limited due to knots which restrict the flow of energy into these centers. Three knots are particuarly important. The knot of Brahma which restricts the center at the base of the spine. The knot of Vishnu which restricts the heart center and the knot of Rudra which restricts the center between the eyebrows. These knots form an important framework in yogic thinking and the stages toward enlightenment are articulated in terms of breaking through these knots in the yogic classic the Hatha Yoga Pradipika as well as in some of the yoga upanishads. Specifically, four stages of progress are described:

arambha

ghata

parichaya

nishpatti

Arambha is associated with breaking the knot of Brahma and the awakening of kundalini.

Ghata is associated with breaking the knot of Vishnu and and with internal absorption.

Parichaya the absorption deepens and in

nishpatti the knot of Rudra is pierced and the kundalini may ascend to the center at the crown of the head. In this state transcendence is integrated and, according to the yogic liteature, the yogi has nothing more to attain.

Putting these elaborate physiological decriptions aside, the goal of kundalini yoga is the same as the goal of any legimitate spiritual practice: To be liberated from the limited bounds of the self-centered and alienated ego. In kundalini yoga this is associated with internal manifestations of the kundalini but the external manifestations should be similar to any other legitiimate spiritual practice.

So does everyone agree that kundalini awakening is necessary for enlightenment?

The view that kundalini awakening is necessary for enlightenment is held in the diverse literature of Kashmir Shaivism and in other Hindu Tantric literature. It is found in the literature of the Hatha Yogis and the Nath Sampradaya. You will find similar views in many Buddhist Tantric works. In addition this view is held by recent spiritual figures such as Shri Ramakrishna, Swami Sivananda, Paramahamsa Yogananda and Swami Vivekananda and of course by contemporary kundalini yogins themselves.

Nevertheless there are some dissenters from this view. These include Sri Chinmoy, Da Free John and Gurdjieff. Dissent can take a number of different forms. For Gurjieff kundalini is associated only with a binding force that leads us to be more attached to the world. Such a view of kundalini is not entirely inaccurate but only reflects the functioning of kundalini in the lower energy centers. For Sri Chinmoy kundalini is an amplifying function that may make an individual more powerful but not more enlightened. From my perspective this also only addresses the impact of kundalini while it operates in the lower energy centers.

Da Free John (born Franklin Jones, a. k. a. Da Love Ananda) has a much more fundamental criticism of kundalini. As far as I understand his position, for him enlightenment cannot be the result of an experience; it is a cognitive transformation. Kundalini may evoke a wide variety of experiences but these are not in and of themselves enlightening. This is an interesting perspective but it seems to assume that the raising of kundalini is an experience in which an ego-consciousness experiences a separate object known as kundalini. Again, this view is consistent with the experience of kundalini in the lower energy centers in which the ego is detached from the movement of kundalini and kundalini experiences are precieved as separate from oneself. However, I would argue that as kundalini rises the ego-consciousness becomes infused in a more fundamental consciousness of cit-shakti-kundalini and this experience does in fact produce a fundamental cognitive change.

Finally, there are many other spiritual practices, such as Zen, Vipassana meditation that consider kundalini irrelevant. Some practitioners or even teachers of these paths, such as Jiyu Kennet, may have kundalini experiences but generally kundalini is not a pivotal part of these paths.

Can I use kundalini yoga simply to improve my health?

Yoga exercises which were traditionally used to purify the body in preparation for awakening the kundalini can also be used simply to improve the health. To practice techniques aimed at actively awakening kundalini with the goal of simply improving your health seems to be a misuse of these powerful techniques.

There are those that teach kundalini yoga principally emphasizing its benefits on health without much discussion of the spiritual benefits. This is how hatha yoga has been taught in the west for some time. The affect of this approach depends on the attitude of the student. There is certainly nothing wrong with trying to improve your health but there is a tension between awakening an energy that will ultimately burn up the ego and trying to shape that energy to simply fulfill an ego-oriented motive.

Is there any scientific basis for kundalini and the cakras? Do I really have to believe that all these cakras physically exist?

Research on kundalini is especially spotty. There is no compelling work to show that the system represents insights into actual human anatomy. But it's important to understand that kundalini and its network of channels and cakras is simply how yogins have chosen to explain their experience and that yogins from many cultures have arrived at similar, though not identical, concepts. The true physical mechanisms underlying these experiences may be very different from those described. Izaak Benthov has proposed a model to explain kundalini in terms of micro- motion in the brain. In this model experiences are associated with parts of the body, such as the heart, because the part of the brain associated with that part of the body is stimulated by micro-vibrations. His model is treated in ``The Kundalini Experience'' by Sannella referenced below. From a practical perspective the key thing is our subjective experience and that the roadmap of these subjective experiences has been mapped out.

Is Chinese qi gong a kind of kundalini yoga?

If there is any contemporary teaching that is even more diverse in approach than kundalini yoga it must be qi gong. As a result it is hard to compare kundalini yoga to qi gong. From my limited exposure to qi gong it is clear there are many qi gong practices that are identical to kundalini yoga practices. What is also clear is that may qi gong practitioners have reported experiences that are identical to those of kundalini yogins. In so far as each of these practices aims at eliminating blocks to the qi/prana energy then they share a common ground.

What about Tibetan Buddhism - has kundalini been known in Tibet?

Kundalini yoga in the Natha Sampradaya and Vajrayana in Tibetan Buddhism both take their origin from the Mahasiddhas who were active in India from the 8th century to the 12th century. Kundalini yoga practices formed the core of the teachings of a number of these Mahasiddhas and are strongly represented in both Tibetan Buddhist practices and contemporary kundalini yoga practices. Kundalini yoga was spoken of as ``Candali yoga'' by these Mahasiddhas and became known as gTummo rnal 'byor in Tibet. Candali yoga was a key practice of the famous Tibetan yogin Milarepa. The role of kundalini yoga in Tibetan Buddhism is discussed in more detail in the Kundalini Yogas FAQ.

Are there any other traditions that show awareness of kundalini?

If you believe that kundalini is at the basis of spiritual progress then every valid spiritual tradition must have some awareness of kundalini. Christianity (especially Quakerism and Pentecostalism), Sufism, Qabalistic mysticism, alchemy and magick all have literature which demonstrates some awareness of the kundalini process but these traditions are not, to this author's awareness, so open in their exposition of the techniques and so it is hard to judge the depth of understanding latent in these traditions. Nevertheless, the imagery is so unmistakable in these traditions that each must have, at least at one time, been conversant with the movement of kundalini.

So how do I awaken kundalini?

Indirectly kundalini can be awakened by devotion, by selfless service, or by intellectual enquiry. In these paths the blocks to the awakening of kundalini are slowly removed. Occasionally, individuals on these paths will experience a sudden awakening of kundalini but generally because the blocks are slowly and gently removed kundalini-like experiences evolve slowly in these paths.

Broadly speaking there are two radically different direct approaches to awakening kundalini. One approach requires initiation by a guru and relies upon a technique called shaktipat, or ``descent of shakti.'' It is variously called: Siddha Mahayoga, Kundalini Mahayoga or Sahaja Yoga (Spontaneous Yoga). These approaches are treated in the Siddha Mahayoga FAQ. The other approach uses intentional yogic techniques . The styles using intentional techniques include Mantra Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Laya Yoga or Kriya Yoga. These approaches are treated in the Kundalini Yogas FAQ .

Fundamentally the approach of Siddha Mahayoga and the Kundalini Yogas are different. In Siddha Mahayoga the guru awakens the kundalini and after that the core of the practice is the inactive and non-willful surrender to kundalini. In Kundalini Yogas the will is used to awaken the kundalini and to guide its progress. Clearly these are different approaches.
Nevertheless, elements of the each approach occur in the practices of the other. Siddha Mahayogins may use asanas, pranayamas and other hatha yoga practices. On the other hand gurus in Kundalini Yoga may give infusions of shakti to their students to help them at particular points in their practice.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using effort, in kundalini yogas, as opposed to the grace of the guru, in siddha mahayoga, to awaken kundalini?

Since every practitioner brings his own unique inclinations and obstacles to the practice of yoga it is very hard to generalize on this point. In terms of actually awakening kundalini gurus of Siddha Mahayoga claim that the kundalini is more easily and reliably awakened by the grace of the guru than by individual effort. In my limited experience I would agree. with this assertion. While not every long-term student of either practice necessarily shows signs of kundalini awakening it is amazing how many people have had instant awakenings of kundalini through initiation from siddha gurus.

In terms of encountering difficulties along the path the siddha gurus would also claim that fewer problems due to kundalini awakening, such as mental imbalance, are encountered by students of Siddha Mahayoga. Here I think the results are mixed. It seems to me that the guidance of the teacher in either Siddha Mahayoga or Kundalini Yoga is more a determining factor than which style of kundalini practice is employed.

Generally speaking each style of practice has its strengths and weakness. The strength of Siddha Mahayoga is the ease with which it awakens the kundalini. The weakness is that because the kundalini is so easily awakened by the guru students of Siddha Mahayoga often have completely undisciplined personal meditation practices. Time is spent instead to trying to recreate some of their initial experiences by following the guru around hoping for his or her grace Some people spend 20 or more years in this manner without ever developing an inner core of practice or experience.

The strength of the family of Kundalini Yogas is that the progress is at least apparently more under the control of the student of the yoga. These students seem more likely to have disciplined personal practices and more of an understanding of how the practice relates to their own experience.
Unfortunately for some students this leads to a fairly egotistical approach to their practice and ultimately the kundalini energy is used to bolster the ego rather than to merge the ego in bliss.

What are the signs of an awakened kundalini?

Briefly, according to classical literature the signs of an awakened kundalini can be grouped into: mental signs, vocal signs and physical signs. Mental signs can include visions that range from ecstatically blissful to terrifyingly frightful. Vocal signs can include spontaneous vocal expressions that range from singing or reciting mantras to make various animals sounds such as growling or chirping. Physical signs include trembling, shaking and spontaneously performing hatha yoga postures and pranayamas.

From a more subjective perspective the more pleasant experiences associated with a kundalini awakening may include: waves of bliss, periods of elation, glimpses of transcendental consciousness. The less pleasant experiences associated with a kundalini awakening may include: trembling, sharp aches in areas associated with the cakras, periods of irrational anxiety, sudden flashes of heat.

Are these methods of awakening kundalini dangerous? What about Gopi Krishna's books?

If we take the psychological perspective and view kundalini as the power latent in our unconscious then it is easy to understand that awakening this force is going to bring a greater amount of unconscious material into our consciousness. Even in the best of circumstances this is likely to be uncomfortable and if an individual is barely coping with his unconscious even under normal circumstances then awakening kundalini may push the individual over into psychosis. This phenomenon has been documented many times.

Forceful methods of awakening kundalini pose additional dangers. Because quite forceful methods can be used to awaken kundalini these techniques themselves are potentially physically and mentally disruptive. An individual named Gopi Krishna awakened his kundalini by doing unguided meditation on his crown cakra. His life after awakening was both blessed by ecstatic bliss and tormented by physical and mental discomfort. Eventually his experience stabilized. He wrote down his experiences in a recently re-released autbiography entitled ``Living with Kundalini.'' Gopi Krishna's autobiography appears to be an honest representation of his experiences but it is only one extreme datapoint in the panorama of experience on kundalini yoga. It represents dangers in forceful unguided practice but it is not representative of a typical practicioner's experience.

But even if kundalini is dangerous, isn't it a faster way to enlighenment?

First of all it may be useful to observe that there is no technique currently known on earth that appears to be rapidly catapulting large number of individuals toward enlightenment. Because kundalini yogas deal so directly with a powerful enlightening force it seems natural that they would be ``faster'', but there appears to be alot of tortoise and hare phenomena at work with newbie kundalini yogins. Many people begin kundalini yogas, have strong initial experiences and then become frightened. Many who perservere through this initial phase become distracted by the energy and focus on temporal and phenomenal applications of the energy.

There have been many scandals among kundalini yoga teachers - particularly sexual scandals. Is there a correlation between sexual scandals and kundalini yoga practice?

There have been scandals regarding the teachers of many paths, both spiritual and non-spiritual ; however, it is probably fair to say that kundalini yogins have had more than their share. Since the first publication of these frequently-asked-questions in 1994 more than one well-known kundalini yoga teacher has been implicated in having clandestine affairs with students and has been asked to step down from his position as spiritual leader as a result.

An advanced kundalini yogin is typically a powerful charismatic individual who has the ability to directly influence the minds of others. Westerners often mistake this power as a sign of enlightenment and allow such teachers liberties as a result.

In addition it is quite common for kundalini yoga to temporarily accentuate the sex drive. This period requires extra discipline. Finally, kundalini yoga is closely associated with tantrism and sex is often used in conjunction with tantric practice. Where sex is used there is of course the opportunity for misuse or abuse.

If my kundalini is awakened will I need to change my lifestyle?

It's hard to have your cake and eat it too. If you awaken kundalini in order to change and enrich your life it's reasonable to expect you may need to change your lifestyle as a result. The recommendations of both classical literature and experience is that sleep and diet will need to be moderated otherwise severe discomfort may arise. Furthermore without moderating sexual activity and physical work it will be hard to experience much success with kundalini. The extent that these elements of your life need to change depends on the nature of the individual. While genuine mental imbalances arising from kundalini are rare nearly every kundalini yogin will find periods when one needs to be especially sensitive to needs for sleep, quiet and diet

posted in Full Enlightenment - 6 replies

"higher consciousness"

2008-03-29T06:33:54Z

hello,

some people say "I am my body, my mind, the sum of my experiences"
this is the lower (not lesser) self - the consciousness of the flesh...
some people say "I am en eternal, recurring, perfect spiritual being",
this is the higher (not better) self - the aspect of the eternal emenation.
some people say "I am what I feel, sense, and exchange w/ others"
this is the middle (singular) self, the soul/sole (existing once) amalgam.

so; lower, middle, and higher only exist in comparison to each other,
aspect precipitates consciousness, as thesis provokes antithesis...
and the synthesis, the emotional core, the "2nd act" is thus created.
so the highest self is an open awareness operating a healthy body -
a pure (clean) mind open to growth through experiential learning -
and a willingly vulnerable soul, open and aware, involved in living;

or, open-hearted, fully-aware, triplicity of self while in the world of duality.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

Higher Consciousness??

2007-12-31T05:48:57Z

~~Hello to all, im here on a journey to a path of self discovery, But , I hear alot of people saying and the phrase uses " TO BE ON A HIGHER CONSCIOUS LEVEL AND TO KEEP IN TUNE WITH THE EARTHS VIBRATIONS WITH OUR VIBRATION is to be self empowered and those who are not , will be left in darkness in the future!!!!! Iam on a new path and trying to understand what iam feeling and what im being lead too!!! I dont want to be long winded here, but want to really understand whats this higher understanding means? thanks to all!!! Love, amanda

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

A little ditty to deck the halls with:

2007-12-21T08:48:45Z

Happy Holidays Air'Body...

Put on this day a cloak of many colors,
Brilliant hues and shades of Light.
Just as day follows night,
Radiance, reflection and warmth will ensue.
Ennoble your nature
Already divine.
Step in time with the Heart
That beats only as you.

Chakra, aura
And aurora blend and spin
As an iridescent iris of
Incomparable beauty.
See clearly your duty
To glow with the Flow.
Allow the Truth that you know
To show.

No more incognito!
Stop traveling under that radar.
What you are is a splendiferous star!
Unrepeatable, inconceivable, unique
As your Source.
Sent here, of course, to reveal and to revel,
Revere and draw near to the Luminous I (Am)
That you are.

‘Tis a season to savor and celebrate.
Elevate your awareness of the resplendent Gift within.
Unwrap yourself
And give It.

Put on this day a cloak of many colors,
Brilliant hues and shades of Light.
Just as day follows night,
Radiance, reflection and warmth will ensue.
Ennoble your nature
Already divine.
Step in time with the Heart
That beats only as you.

Chakra, aura
And aurora blend and spin
As an iridescent iris of
Incomparable beauty.
See clearly your duty
To glow with the Flow.
Allow the Truth that you know
To show.

No more incognito!
Stop traveling under that radar.
What you are is a splendiferous star!
Unrepeatable, inconceivable, unique
As your Source.
Sent here, of course, to reveal and to revel,
Revere and draw near to the Luminous I (Am)
That you are.

‘Tis a season to savor and celebrate.
Elevate your awareness of the resplendent Gift within.
Unwrap yourself
And give It.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

Peace???

2007-12-15T14:32:00Z

Peace can have many meanings and forms.

When you contemplate "peace", what comes to mind?

Namaste'
Tim

posted in Full Enlightenment - 6 replies

New Healing Tribe

2007-12-10T16:44:57Z

Recently, I opened a "Tibetan Ayurveda" tribe to be able to share our healing inspirations better. If you feel this is for you, please follow your heart and support the tribe with your presence.

http://tribes.tribe.net/tibetanayurveda?_click_path=Application%5Btribe%5D.Tribe%5Baebd7c33-9d4a-4f9f-bd21-20baea6c0772%5D

Much heart felt Divine love to you. May it spread through the universe for the good and benefit of all beings.

Namaskar from all my heart! _^_

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

full vs. partial

2007-12-08T18:46:33Z

Can one be partially enlightened? Isn't enlightenment an all-or-nothing endeavor?

posted in Full Enlightenment - 53 replies

'Manufacture Happiness'

2007-12-01T06:57:01Z

We Synthesize Happiness under controlled conditions

Dan Gilbert is a psychology professor at Harvard, and author of “Stumbling on Happiness” and argues that happiness can be synthesized better under controlled conditions than under uncontrolled conditions.
He talks about natural happiness versus synthesized happiness. It turned out that people with the highest amount of freedom and choices were less happy than the people with fewer opportunities.

“Natural happiness is what we get when we get what we wanted. Synthesized happiness is what we make when we don’t get what we wanted. It’s as real and enduring natural happiness, the happiness we control and sometimes even more so, because we can manufacture it within. Freedom is the friend of natural happiness but the enemy of synthetic happiness. Not knowing this can work to our disadvantage. Here is why?

Psychological immune system works best when we are totally stuck and trapped. Reversible conditions are less conducive to happiness than irreversible conditions. We don’t know conditions under which synthetic happiness grows.

When preferences drive us to hard and too fast because one has overrated the difference between choices we are at risk. When our ambition is bounded it leads us joyfully. Unbounded ambition leads us to hurt others and to sacrifice things of real value.

Natural happiness makes less happiness than synthetic happiness.”

Our longings and our worries are overblown because we have within us the capacity to manufacture the very commodity which we are constantly chasing when we choose experience.

Viva la Meditation… = synthesized happiness

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/gilberthappy/
Watch the video!
-------------

The reason I posted this is because in spirituality we often have certain codes to follow....
The is study shows that controlled circumstances can often bring out more good than we want to admit to our freedom loving selves.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Why is it so difficult, conveying enlightenment?

2007-11-20T23:20:47Z

Why is it so difficult to convey to another what is understood about enlightenment? Is enlightenment a universal truth or is it only some solipsitic encounter which makes it damn near impossible? Don't start with the normal spiritual crap about how enlightenment is not a concept and therefore cannot be transmitted. I personally am fully enlightened. This mind and body that is attached just haven't fully caught on to that fact yet.

Sidenote - mainly venting but feel free to comment: I live in a heavily deluded Southern Baptist environment. Everyone, Everyone that I come in contact with on a regular basis is steeped in religion. When any of them finds out that I am "not on the same page" as them they ask why. All that ever comes out of me is what I don't believe which leads them into accusations and eternal damnations. The one thing that I want to convey to them is that it is possible to be free from all of this external security crap and that the truth is within...when I tell them that they want proof!!!

posted in Full Enlightenment - 55 replies

pretty amazing transmission

2007-11-09T16:23:59Z

I went to a sage name Deepakbhai earlier this year in Gujarat, India, to receive Gnan Vidhi, which they describe as some kind of a jump start for liberation. It is a two hour ceremony and it is free of charge, anything Deepakbhai offers is free. I have to say it worked very well for me and several of my friends who are long - time veterans on the spiritual path. Deepakbhai seems to have an unusual ability to remove some subtle level of illusion in a person, difficult to describe, but since I received Gnan Vidhi, there is a permanent shift in my seat of being to freedom and awareness, asublte veil is gone that survived all my openings to awareness before. The teachings around it are very traditional Jain - teachings, pretty orthodox for some Westeners. I also know one person for whom the Gnan Vidhi did not do much appearantly, so I cannot guarantee it will work for everybody. But it seems like a worthwhile thing to check out. I have to say that I was never treated with such love and care in a spiritual community and there is a real purity about it, these people really don't want anything in return for what they offer. To me, it was a very refreshing experience of a true "old school" approach to enlightenment. If you have any questions, you can contact me via christian_mukti@yahoo.de

Deepakbhai's stuff can be found on www.dadabhagwan.org

Cheers, Christian

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

Nirvana is here Now .... Peace, Bliss... All of It ...

2007-07-20T16:28:29Z

http://fyminc.typepad.com/bob_thurman_podcast/

Yes, he's Uma Thurman's dad ... Yes, you can contact him and ask him questions ... Bob Thurman became a Tibetan monk at age 24. He's a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University, and co-founder of Tibet House US, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization.

Thurman's focus is on the balance between inner insight and cultural harmony. In interpreting the teachings of Buddha, he argues that happiness can be reliable and satisfying in an enduring way without depriving others.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

The Tzolkin: Music for positive planetary consciousness.

2007-07-11T07:37:24Z

Positive planetary climate change requires positive planetary consciousness change. http://www.DarkMother.com

Twenty years ago, I was sitting in my little studio in Los Angeles, CA, sequencing and recording the first acoustic translations of the Mayan Sacred Calendar, the Tzolkin, and shifting into what was being called the "Harmonic Convergence." Throughout the convergence, the acoustic translations of the Tzolkin's 20 Sacred Signs were being broadcast through my house and yard via the only radio transmission system accessible to me at the time, an el cheapo walkie talkie. Lolol... Hey, gotta do what ya gotta do and, having "coincidentally" translated the Tzolkin into sound only months before, my intention was to insure that the planet's ethereal body received both the galactic radio transmission and a local radio transmission of the [concentrated] Tzolkin's currents, simultaneously. It was the least I could do for the planet and, although I had the least of the consumer broadcasting possibilities, I got the job done. (A little leaven leavens the whole loaf.) Since that auspicious transit, the world's consciousness has followed a predicted course toward collective enlightenment, on and relative to all levels of society. Now, here we are, 20 years later, poised on the precipice of (and rapidly accelerating into) the most profound shift in planetary consciousness the world has ever experienced. Fortunately, the ancient Maya priests who foresaw this time also perceived and left us the Tzolkin as a tool to help us transit this period successfully.

Here is the fundamental value of the Tzolkin; it is a Key unlocking the Archetypal Properties embodied in cycles of the 4th dimension, Time, that enable us to ascend into higher levels of Life and being human (in the Highest sense of the word). Time is about periodicity, frequency. Basically, Consciousness, the All in all, uses Time to effect change in the 3rd, 2nd and 1st dimensions. The Tzolkin is a map of how Consciousness does so relative to the expression of specific Aspects of Itself. The Tzolkin is a table of the Logic embodying specific, cyclic Patterns of Time facilitating the expression of those Aspects through all states of manifestation via electromagnetic radiation. When those Patterns are expressed in their purest Form, i.e. electromagnetic frequency, e.g. sound or light, that expression effects a psychoactive, ethereal bridge to the 4th dimension and the Consciousness that generates, progresses and sustains all that is.

At this time, the world understands the principals of using complimentary sounds to effect brain synchronization and cognitive enhancement. Now, we understand the validity of using tone to effect remarkable physiological and psychological shifts. Furthermore, we not only accept, we embrace the mathematical plausibility of a multidimensional universe beyond the accepted 4 dimensions; length, width, height/depth and time. Today, we understand the unity of these dimensions and of all things in such a way that we can comprehend how certain harmonic patterns transmitted in the 3D expression of Life may effect links to their concurrent Life expressions in the 4D, 5D and higher realms. We understand that sound can be used to effect vibrational states whereby higher levels of perception and informations are obtained. And now, as a result of the Tzolkin acoustic translations, we are capable of taking an ordinary CD and tangibly applying dynamics of the 4th dimension to radically and positively progress individual and communal consciousness, health and vitality.

Jesus (the Christ, not Martinez) said "They that have ears to hear, let them hear." He knew not everyone was prepared to hear the enlightening Truth that Consciousness was pouring through him, nevertheless, he spoke so those who could hear It would have the opportunity to do so. I'm sure there are many people reading this who are dismissing the above as New Age delusion, at best, and that does not negate the validity of what I'm sharing, nor of my experience and the experiences of many others who have used the Tzolkin acoustic translations. At one point, we lacked the instruments to confirm we live in an heliocentric planetary system, that information can be transmitted across open air without wires, that our cells are individual microcomputers. We may not have the instruments required to validate string theory or the practical linking of our 3D experience to the vital currents of the 4th and higher dimensions using sound and/or light, however we will. Those who do or may understand and are seeking the value of the easily applied tools for personal enhancement such as the Tzolkin translations (who share this online community) deserve to hear now, and they can.

The Live Earth concerts!! Wow, speaking of hearing, the sound quality was incredible. I was online through most of the event, jumping from country to country, continent to continent. I heard a lot of great music and I heard a consistent message. The message is that we are ready to drop our individual b.s. and start making the necessary shifts in consciousness and personal responsibility necessary for planetary survival and well being. It was a motivating experience. Being motivated to directly further the positive planetary consciousness shift, I have decided to offer my company's mp3CD versions of the 4 most fundamental and dynamic Tzolkin acoustic translations at 1/2 price for 260 days, beginning July 11, (2007). The Tzolkin is a 260-day Calendar; if we're gonna do a Tzolkin music sale for the sake of raising planetary consciousness, we might as well do it for a full Calendrical cycle. (Otherwise, it's just a sale, and that's not what this is about.) The translations are among the most powerful and effective cognitive and personal enhancement tools available -- more comprehensively and enduringly effective than Hemi-Sync, Holo-Sync and other similar products -- at a very low and reasonable price for such products. Nonetheless, it's a pivotal time, and I would have DMG/DarkMother.com assist in the process of planetary ascension by making the core of our product line "Ascension" available to millions more people by simply making it more affordable.

Positive planetary climate change begins with positive planetary consciousness change. "They that have ears to hear, let them hear." Come, hear and experience Ascension @ http://www.DarkMother.com

May you grow daily as Light and Love,

Rev. Michaele de Cygne
President
DMG/DarkMother.com
http://www.DarkMother.com

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

The spiritual meaning of your life challenges

2007-05-19T21:49:43Z

If the moderators will kindly permit a new book announcement, I would like to tell people about a spirituality book I’ve written and recently published that may be of interest and service.

Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth? explores the premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we’re born for purposes of spiritual growth.

The book contains ten true stories of people who planned physical illness, having handicapped children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, losing a loved one, and severe accidents.

The information about their pre-birth plans was obtained by four very gifted mediums and channels, including one who has the ability both to see and to hear the conversations we have with one another before we’re born. The book therefore contains the actual conversations people had with their future parents, children, spouses, friends, and other loved ones when they planned these challenges.

As readers come to understand that they themselves planned many of their challenges, suffering that once seemed purposeless becomes imbued with deep meaning. Wisdom may be acquired in a more conscious manner; feelings of anger, guilt, blame, and victimization are replaced by acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, and peace.

A free PDF with a large sample of the book is available on the About the Book page at www.CourageousSouls.com. People may also wish to read the reviews on Amazon.

The book may be ordered on the Courageous Souls web site or from Amazon, including Amazon Canada, UK, France, Germany, and Japan. It may also be ordered from any bookstore or library (in most countries) by providing them with the ISBN number (9780977679454).

Thank you for permitting me to post this message.

Kind regards,
Robert Schwartz
author, Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?
www.CourageousSouls.com

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment

2007-05-09T04:27:48Z

[Please note : This article is directly related to States of Consciousness, Awareness, Meditation, Peace and Spirituality]

[b]The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues. [/b]

The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.

[b]Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment. [/b]

Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved as long as cities exist.

Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.

If there are no gaps there is no emotion.

Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.

When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.

There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.

People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.

Emotion ends.

Man becomes machine.

A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.

A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.

A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.

[b]Fast visuals/ words make slow emotions extinct.

Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys emotional circuits.

A fast (large) society cannot feel pain / remorse / empathy.

A fast (large) society will always be cruel to Animals/ Trees/ Air/ Water/ Land and to Itself. [/b]

I am trying to get the following experiment conducted in a psychophysiology/ bio-chemistry laboratory.

There is a link between visual / verbal speed ( in perception, memory,
imagery ) and the bio-chemical state of the brain and the body.

Emotion can intensify / sustain only when visual and verbal processing
associated with the emotion slows down ( stops / freezes ).

The degree of difficulty of an emotion depends upon the degree of
freezing (of visuals and words ) required to intensify and sustain that
particular emotion.

Experiment:

Subjects (preferably actors specialising in tragedy / tragic roles )
will be asked to watch a silent video film showing any of the
following:-

(1) Human suffering.
(2) Animal suffering.
(3) Suffering ( Destruction ) of Air / Water / Land / Trees.

Subjects will be asked to intensify and sustain the subjective feeling of pain/ grief for the sufferer.

The chemical changes associated with the emotion in the body(blood) would be measured by appropriate methods.

The silent video film will be shown at different speeds :
(1) 125% of actual speed.
(2) Actual/real speed.
(3) 75% of actual speed.
(4) 50% of actual speed.
(5) 25% of actual speed.

Results :

(1) Intensity of emotion increases with the decrease in visual speed.
(2) Intensity of emotion is maximum when visual speed is minimum (25%
of actual speed)
(3) The amount of chemical change associated with the emotion in the
body(blood) will be found to increase with the decrease in visual speed.
(4) The chemical change is maximum when visual speed is minimum.
(5) The amount of chemical change will increase with the decrease in
breathing rate. Breathing becomes so slow and non-rhythmic that it stops
for some time at the inhalation/ exhalation stages.

The above co-relations will be valid for all subjects -even for those who cannot feel pain/ grief. Such subjects will experience emotion associated with boredom/ discomfort/ restlessness/ irritability/ uneasiness. The chemicals released will be different but the co-relation between visual speed and amount of chemical will be same( the breathing rates will be different/ fast). All subjects will experience some kind of emotion.

[If scientists can discover 4000 different chemicals in cigarette-smoke then they can certainly detect the few chemicals released in blood when weexperience higher-level emotions like pain, empathy, compassion, remorse etc… ]

In the 2nd stage of experiment we shall replace the silent video film with a Narrator ( Audio only ) and repeat the procedure thereby establishing the link between intensity of emotion and verbal speed. The narrator will slow down verbal speed by-- speaking slowly, stretching words, repetition of words/ sentences & making use of
pause/ silence between words.

Please note:
(1) A thinking mind cannot intensify / sustain any emotion.
While this statement is generally true for all emotions, it is particularly true for all painful emotions.

(2) Pain / remorse / empathy cannot be experienced in a society in which visual (verbal) speed and breathing- rates are fast . It is impossible.

PROOF.
Proof of the link between pain and slow visuals / words :-

In the last century man has made thousands of movies / films on various
themes / subjects. Whenever pain / tragedy is shown in any film the
visuals ( scenes ) and words ( dialogues ) are always slowed down. In
many films tragedy is shown in slow motion. At the most intense moment
of pain the films almost become static / stationary.

Tragedy-films provide direct proof / evidence of the link between pain
and slowness.

Pain can intensify / sustain only when visual ( and verbal ) speed slows
down( stops/ freezes).

[b]Change in visual speed over the years. [/b]

One thousand years ago visuals would change only when man physically
moved himself to a new place or when other people ( animals / birds )
and objects ( clouds / water ) physically moved themselves before him.

Today man sits in front of TV / Computer and watches the rapidly
changing visuals / audio.

He sits in a vehicle ( car / train / bus ) and as it moves he watches
the rapidly changing visuals.

He turns the pages of a book / newspaper / magazine and sees many
visuals / text in a short span.

[b]Change in verbal speed over the years. [/b]

In ancient times verbal processing was “live” in nature—ie it happened when people actually spoke.
Today there is non-stop verbal processing inside the mind through print and electronic media ( newspapers, books, magazines, radio, television, computer etc…) as a result of which the verbal content & speed has increased thousands of times.

The speed of visuals ( and words ) has increased so much during the last
one hundred years that today the human brain has become incapable of
focussing on slow visuals /words through perception, memory, imagery.

If we cannot focus on slow visuals / words we cannot experience emotions associated with slow visuals /words.

Before the advent of Industrial Revolution Man's thinking was primarily
limited to :

(a) visual processing ( slow visuals )
(b) verbal / language processing ( slow words )

Today there are many kinds of fast thinking :

(1) visual processing ( fast visuals )
(2) verbal / language processing ( fast words )
(3) Scientific / Technical thinking ( fast )
(4) Industrial thinking ( fast )
(5) Business thinking ( fast )

(3), (4) & (5) are associated with Numbers / Symbols / Equations /
Graphs /Circuits / Diagrams / Money / Accounting etc…

As long as the mind is doing this kind of thinking it cannot feel any
emotion - not an iota of emotion.

In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
In a thinking ( scientific / industrial ) society emotion itself becomes extinct.

Emotion is what remains in the mind when visual/ verbal processing slows down (stops/ freezes)

There are certain categories of people who feel more emotion (subjective experience ) than others.

If we attempt to understand why (and how ) they feel more emotion we can learn a lot about emotion.

Writers, poets, actors, painters ( and other artists )

[b]Writers [/b]
Writers do verbal ( and associated visual) processing whole day- every day.
They do slow verbal ( and associated visual) processing every day.
(A novel that we read in 2 hours might have taken 2 years to write. This is also the reason why the reader can never feel the intensity & duration of emotion experienced by the writer )

[b]Poets [/b]
Poets do verbal ( and associated visual ) processing whole day- every day. There is more emotion in poetry than in prose. This happens because there are very few words ( and associated visuals ) in poetry than in any other kind of writing. There is a very high degree of freezing / slowing down of visuals & words in poetry.

[b]Actors [/b]
Actors do verbal ( and associated visual ) processing whole day- every day. During shooting / rehearsal they repeat the dialogues ( words ) again and again ( the associated visuals / scenes also get repeated along with the dialogues )

[b]Painters [/b]
Painters do visual ( and associated verbal ) processing whole day- every day. They do extremely slow visual processing - The visual on the canvas changes only when the painter adds to what already exists on the canvas.

There are some important points to be noted :

All these people do visual & verbal processing - whole day - every day.
They do slow visual & verbal processing.
They do not do scientific / industrial / business processing whole day - every day.

Most of the city people doing mental work either do this kind of mental processing which is associated with Numbers / Symbols/ Equations / Graphs / Circuits / Diagrams / Money / Accounting etc… or they do fast visual ( verbal ) processing whole day - every day.

This kind of thinking ( processing ) has come into existence only during the last 200 years and has destroyed our emotional ability ( circuits ).

Once we speed up our minds we become incapable of slowing down [it would take years of effort to slow down]. One can understand it this way - A supercomputer cannot process at the rate of an ordinary computer. Once we speed up [and we have been speeding up for several generations now] we cannot slow down because the neural circuits get altered - the bio-chemistry of the brain and its anatomy changes.

[b]Self-Assessment of ( subjective ) intensity of emotion is almost always wrong. [/b]

Suppose the maximum intensity(and duration) of a particular emotion that
can be experienced by any human being is 100 units.

Let us suppose the maximum intensity(and duration) of that particular emotion ever
experienced by two people A & B in their entire life is :
A - 100units
B - 20 units

Now suppose A & B are made subjects on a particular day and are asked
to feel that particular emotion under experimental conditions ( or
outside the laboratory ) and the intensity &duration they actually experience is :

A - 90 units
B - 18 units

If A & B are then asked to indicate the intensity &duration of emotion on a scale
of 0 -10 their response is likely to be ;

A - 9
B - 9

Who is right and who is wrong ?
A is right.
B is wrong - B is wrong by a wide margin - B has experienced an
intensity(and duration) of 18 units out of a maximum of 100 units and his correct / actual score should be 1.8

Self- assessment ( self rating ) can be accurate only if people have
the capacity to experience the highest intensity &duration ( units ) of the
particular emotion under study.

In small(slow)agriculture-based societies the mind used to experience a state of emotion all the time because of physical work and slow visual/verbal processing . People who do physical work experience the same good subjective-feeling which is experienced by people who do physical excercise. [People who do physical work also sleep much better than people who do mental work - the quality of sleep is much better]. If we read one thousand-year-old literature we will not come across the term "boredom" - the concept of boredom did not exist in slow societies. There were long gaps between different visuals and between words/ sentences - and people had the ability to experience/ tolerate the gaps - it was normal for them.

Emotion can intensify / sustain only when visual / verbal processing slows down ( stops / freezes ). In an Industrial (thinking) society people experience very little emotion because of fast ( visual / verbal / scientific / industrial / business ) thinking.

Suppose the maximum intensity and duration of a particular emotion ( for most people ) in a fast society has reduced to 5 units ( from 100 units that people used to experience in earlier /slower societies ).

If such people experience 4 units of emotion they will give themselves a
rating /score of 8 on a scale of 0-10 whereas their actual score should
be 0.4

[Please note :
Fast emotions =emotions associated with fast visuals/fast words/fast breathing/fast heart-rate.
Slow emotions=emotions associated with slow visuals/slow words/slow breathing/slow heart-rate.
Rate of thinking=number of visuals/words processed per minute.
Gaps between thinking =gaps between visuals/ words/ sentences.]

Thoughts and Emotions are interlinked - but different things - totally/ completly different.

Words can be spoken - words can be read - words can be heard.

Emotion is a subjective-experience. Other examples of subjective experience are taste, smell, touch, headache, stomach pain.

One can understand the difference this way :

When we eat an apple we can feel the taste of apple. Apple can give us the taste of apple - but apple is not taste.

If we pour apple juice into a glass - the glass will not feel the taste - it does not have the ability to feel taste.

If a person eats an apple he will feel the taste - because he has the ability to generate taste from apple.

Words/ Visuals can evoke, intensify and sustain emotions - but words/ visuals are not emotions.

In every field there is easy work/activity and difficult work/activity.

In mathematics there is easy mathematics and difficult mathematics. Everyone can add 2+4 within microseconds. A PhD level problem of mathematics would take hours [or more] to solve - and that too only by someone who has spent 20 - 25 years learning mathematics upto PhD level.

Same way in the field of emotions there are easy emotions and difficult emotions. Easy emotions are evoked within nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds - anger, lust, fear, pleasure, entertainment and excitement are some examples. These emotions are associated with fast breathing and heart-rate. These emotions don"t require gaps between thinking to evoke, intensify and sustain. These are the emotions that can be found everywhere in today's fast society.

Then there are difficult emotions - which require ability and years of effort to develop - emotions associated with pain, compassion and peaceful states of mind are some examples. These emotions are associated with slow breathing and heart-rate. These emotions require freezing of thought - freezing of visuals and words - huge amounts of gaps between thinking - to evoke, intensify and sustain.

The experiments I have proposed are primarily meant for those people who understand only the language of science. We don't need experiments to understand that our present lifestyle is destroying our Minds and Environment - the evidence is everywhere - left, right and center. The craze and fetish for science and scientific proof has mainly existed for the last 50 - 100 years. People have lived on this planet for thousands of years without needing scientific proof to understand something. It is Science and Technology that created the consumerist Industrial Society which has led to the destruction of Mind and Nature/ Environment. Who needs more science or more scientific proof. [b]Science is not the solution - Science is the problem.[/b]

[b]IQ Vs EQ [/b]

IQ always has an element of change in it – IQ is about trying to make/ discover/ invent something new all the time.
Change is an inherent feature of IQ.
IQ is also about thinking more in less time—it involves speeding up of mind. Someone who does more mathematics in less time is considered more intelligent in mathematics. IQ is about change and speed.

EQ is about sustainment of the same feeling/experience over a period of time. When we experience any higher-level emotion for 10 minutes we experience the same feeling( subjective experience) over and over again for 10 minutes.
The( same) feeling can sustain only if there is Repetition.
EQ involves Repetition—Constancy—Sameness.

IQ and EQ are contradictory.
IQ and EQ are opposites.
IQ and EQ are inversely proportional.

(1) A thinking species destroys the planet.
(2) Animals lived on earth for billions of years (in very large numbers)
without destroying nature.
(3) They did not destroy nature because their thinking / activity was
limited to searching for food for one time only.
(4) Man has existed on earth in large numbers for only a few thousand
years / a few hundred years.
(5) Within this short period Man has destroyed the environment.
(6) This destruction took place because of Man's thinking.
(7) When man thinks he makes things.
(8) When he makes things he kills animals / trees / air / water / land.
( Nothing can be made without killing these five elements of nature ).

(9) A thinking species destroys the planet.

[b]Intelligence Is A Curse. [/b]

This planet is on the verge of total destruction.

The cause of destruction is – overactivity.
[Out of millions of species in this world the human-species is the only one that has indulged in overactivity]

The cause of overactivity is – Intelligence.
[The environment would never have got destroyed if Man had been only as intelligent as animals]

Intelligence is a curse - a disease - a disability - an abnormality.

Intelligence is the biggest cause/ source of destruction in this world.

[In fact Intelligence is the only cause of destruction in this world other than natural causes]

[b]Mental work is injurious to the mind and planet. [/b]

Life was never good in the past.

Life will never be good in future.

Life can never be good.

Suffering is a part of life - an inherent feature of life. Suffering can never be eliminated.

There is Physical suffering - There is Mental suffering.

In pre-industrial society there were physical diseases caused by virus and bacteria.
In modern society there are hundreds of lifestyle related physical diseases - Cancer, Stroke, Diabetes, Obesity, Multiple Organ Failures.

Mental suffering will always exist. It exists in agrarian society. It exists in industrial society. As soon as we stop working we experience mental suffering.

We avoid mental suffering by working ceaselessly.

There is no higher purpose behind work.

People do not work because they want to work.
People work because they cannot stop working.

The energy generated by the food we eat forces us to work ceaselessly.

Energy = Energy[Physical Work] + Energy[Mental Work] + Energy[Suffering/ Subjective Experience]

All three energies on the right side are inversely proportional to one another.

When we do hard physical work or hard mental work or a combination of physical work and mental work almost all energy is used up in doing work.

When we stop physical work and mental work the unused energy is experienced as suffering/ anxiety/ restlessness/ discomfort. This suffering is so intense - so unbearable - that most people cannot stop physical activity and mental activity simultaneously for even 2 minutes.

People do not work because they want to work.
People do not work for their family.
People do not work for their nation.
People do not work for any reason.

People work because they cannot stop working.

It does not matter what kind of work we do - whether it is physical work or any kind of mental work. As soon as we stop working we suffer from restlessness, anxiety, uneasiness and discomfort.

[ In Yoga and Meditation the goal is to stop Physical Activity and Mental Activity simultaneously - and then transform the subjective-experience of restlessness/ anxiety/ suffering into peace. This requires ability and years of effort ]

For most people it is a choice between physical and mental work.
The switch-over from physical work to mental work is disastrous for the planet.

Man can do the same physical work every day.
Man cannot do the same mental work every day.

When man used to do physical work ( farming and related activities ) he could do the same repetitive work day after day- generation after generation.

After the Industrial Revolution when man switched-over to mental work he began a never ending process of making new machines / things / products-- a process which can only end with the complete destruction of environment ( planet ).

When society switches over from physical work to mental work it starts making thousands of consumer goods. People start calling them necessities. They are not necessities at all - 90% of consumer goods that we see today did not exist 50 years ago.

Food, Water, Air, Little clothing, Little Shelter - these are necessities.

Close your nose and stop breathing for a few minutes - you will then know what necessity is.

Stop drinking water for a few days - you will then know what necessity is.

Stop eating food for a few days - you will then know what necessity is.

Today people are making thousands of consumer goods - not because they are necessities - but because they cannot stop making them. People cannot stop doing work - After switching over to mental work they will keep on making thousands of unnecessary consumer goods. Industrial Society is destroying necessary things[b][Animals,Trees,Air,Water and Land][/b] for makng unnecessary things[b][Consumer Goods][/b]. This is the reason why the switch-over from physical work to mental work is so destructive. This is the point of no-return - once this is crossed the destruction of Environment/ Nature is inevitable.

[b]If we live a simple life there is individual suffering - but no largescale destruction of Environment.

If we live a consumerist life there is individual suffering - plus largescale destruction of Environment.[/b]

The nature of mental work is such that man has to do new mental work every day- in fact he has to do new mental work every moment- Man cannot repeat in the next moment the mental work that he has already done in the previous moment.

A mathematician cannot solve the same problem of mathematics every day- once he has solved it he will be forced to take up a new( unsolved) problem. Even when he is solving one particular problem he has to move from one step to another - there is a continuous change involved -- there is no constancy at any stage.

An engineer cannot design the same machine again and again –once he has made a machine he will try to make changes/ design a new one.

A writer cannot write the same article every day- he will be forced to write something new every day/ every moment (This is also the reason behind endless discussions/ debates/ arguments).

[b]Discussions, Debates and Arguments. [/b]

Let us examine how much discussion we are collectively having in Industrial Society every day.

Millions of pages in print – newspapers / books / magazines.
Millions of web-pages on internet every day.

Now add to this all the conversation (discussion) we are having through radio / television / telephone and several other media every day.

And add to this all the discussion we are having through face-to-face interaction.

The volume of discussion per individual in one week is greater than the total discussion someone living in pre-industrial society would have in his entire life.

There is too much discussion in modern society.
Discussion is not solving our problems – discussion itself has become a problem – a gigantic problem.

A society that does mental work will discuss itself to destruction [extinction]

A society that does mental work will argue itself to destruction [extinction]

A society that does mental work will debate itself to destruction [extinction]

A society that does mental work can never stop discussions / debates / arguments – it is impossible. It will discuss / debate / argue till the last moment of it’s existence.

Discussions / Debates / Arguments – these are creations of a society that has switched-over from physical work to mental work.

Discussions / Debates / Arguments – these are diseases of a society that has switched-over from physical work to mental work.

Discussions / debates / arguments can end only in agriculture-based societies that do physical work.

We cannot do physical-work and mental-work simultaneously.

There is an inverse relationship between physical-work and mental-work.
If one is high [more] the other has got to be low [less]

If we want to do physical work we have to reduce mental activity by the same proportion.
If we want to do mental work we have to reduce physical activity by the same proportion.

There is very little discussion / debate / argument in societies that do physical work - ie, agriculture-based societies - And this is the reason why they are millions of times saner than industrial societies.

Change is an inherent feature of mental work.

Since change is an inherent feature of mental work - a society that does mental work can never be at peace with itself – it is impossible.

A society that does mental work will always be restless.

Only those societies that do physical work [agriculture and related activities] can find contentment and peace.

[b]As long as cities exist we can neither save the environment nor the mind.[/b]

To save the [ remaining ] environment from destruction man will have to
return back to physical work [ smaller communities ].

To save the mind from mental diseases man will have to return back to physical work [ smaller communities ].

[b]Criminality and Abnormality. [/b]

Industrial Society has collectively killed billions of Animals and Trees [ Remember - plant and animal species developed over a period of millions ofyears]

It has also killed most of Water and Air [ Please note - polluting Water and Air is equivalent to killing Water and Air ]

The soil was not fertile when the earth was created. It became fertile - very slowly - over a period of millions of years. And look what man has done - He has covered millions and millions of hectares of land with cement and concrete. All the land that has been covered with cement and concrete has been killed.

Man has stockpiled thousands of tonnes of highly radioactive nuclear material and nuclear waste which is going to remain highly radioactive and carcinogenic for the next thousands of years - and which has already leaked into the environment hundreds of times.

There is an arsenal of 50,000 nuclear missiles that can destroy the planet several times over.

What could be more criminal than this.
What could be more abnormal than this.

Lawyers and Judges are trying to catch a few criminals.
They don’t realize the entire Industrial Society is criminal.

Psychologists and Psychiatrists are trying to classify a few people as abnormal.
They don’t realize the entire Industrial Society is abnormal.

Industrial Society is collectively making millions of tonnes of weapons and explosives [of all kinds] every year – and then it wonders why there is so much violence in this world.

Big Mystery.

If you make millions of tonnes of weapons and explosives on earth they are going to be used on earth – they are not going to be used on Mars.

The entire Industrial Society is a terrorist.
The Military-Industrial-Complex is the real terrorist.
Science and Technology is the terrorist.

Make things
Buy things
Sell things

This is not the purpose of life.

Destroy Shopping Culture.

No one deserves more.
Everyone deserves less.
Life can sustain on earth only when everyone has less.

There was a time when Man knew nothing about the number of species and millions of species existed.
Today Man knows the names of millions of species and nothing is left of the species.

It took millions of years for millions of species to slowly come into existence on earth - and man has decimated all other species.

After destroying millions of highly-developed species on earth Man is today searching for a few molecules of life in outer-space.

If a few microbes, a few molecules of methane / water are found on Mars - it becomes the newspaper headline.

They call it progress.

The following is about to come true.

Nature can exist

(1) before man.
(2) after man.
(3) not with man.

Destruction of environment can be divided into two parts - destruction of environment for producing food - and destruction of environment for making thousands of consumer goods. In pre-Industrial Society people destroyed environment primarily for [b]food.[/b] In Industrial Society people are destroying environment for [b]food and consumer goods.[/b] If we want to save environment we will have to bring down the second to the minimum level by not making all unnecessary consumer goods.

Environment can be saved only if we stop production of most [ more than
99% ] of the consumer goods we are making today.

[b]Environment cannot be saved by recycling.

The attempt of an industrial society to save the environment by recycling is like shooting someone 10,000 times and then trying to save him by taking out one bullet. [/b]

Time is running out for this planet.

Regarding Industrialization there is an important point to be noted. Modern Industrial Society has existed for 100 years - 200 years - 300 years. When we compare this period with the total duration for which human society has existed on earth this period is so short - so small that it almost does'nt exist. It is almost zero.

Material things don't bring peace and happiness. Today billions of people have got things which even Kings did not have in the past. Car, computer, television, fridge, telephone - no King ever had these things. But people are still restless and unhappy.

Industrial Society is consuming psychiatric drugs/ sleeping pills by tonnes and tonnes.

A very large percentage of the population is surviving on precription drugs, illegal drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

One-third of the population has become fat like elephants.

People talk about increase in lifespan. What is the use of increased lifespan if people have to resort to Drugs, Alcohol and Cigarettes to pull through life. And just wait a few more years - the average lifespan will soon become zero - human life will cease to exist on earth.

Consumerist-Lifestyle is just not sustainable. If we do not immediately return to living a very simple and frugal life then very soon there will be no human life on earth. We would need several planets[earths] to sustain the present lifestyle.

The human race has been destroying/ killing animals, trees, air, water, land and people from the very beginning of civilization. [b]Science and Technology has increased this destructive capacity millions of times. [/b]

Every man is a serial-killer. The per-capita destruction of Environment - per-capita destruction of Animals, Trees, Air, Water and Land is thousands of times greater than what it was 1000 years ago - 500 years ago - 200 years ago.

The [b]Military-Industrial Complex[/b] is all set to destroy whatever life and environment that remains on earth.

There is a reason why the two World Wars happened in the recent past and not 1000 years ago?

It was not possible to have world wars 1000 years ago. World Wars became possible only when Science and Technology developed aeroplanes, ships and other carriers which could transport millions of troops and millions of tonnes of weapons[once again a creation of science and technology] from one corner of the globe to another.

And today one does'nt even need all these to fight a war. One just needs to move finger-tips to launch missiles that can destroy the planet several times over.

Right at this moment there are several countries fighting wars with one another. There is internal war going on in almost half of the the countries of the world. All these wars are being fuelled and sustained by billions of tonnes of weapons produced by the Military-Industrial Complex every year.

And it is going to get worse and worse every day.

If you kill one person they call it murder.
If you kill a few hundred they call it terrorism.
If you kill a few million they call it war.

Science and Technology has made this world [millions of times] more violent and unsafe than before.

Science and Technology has produced billions of tonnes of weapons and explosives - chemical, biological and nuclear weapons - millions of tonnes of Radioactive material [ which will soon be used to make dirty bombs - which are going to contaminate the environment for hundreds and thousands of years]. [b]Science and Technology is the real terrorist.[/b]

[b]Think Positive. [/b]

Psychologists say -- Think Positive.
Politicians say – Think Positive.
Economists say – Think Positive.
Scientists say – Think Positive.
Everyone says – Think Positive.

Arctic ice is melting – Glaciers are melting – Rivers are drying up.
Think Positive.

Fish population in Oceans is down to 1/3 of what it was 100 years ago.
Think Positive.

Pollution levels are going sky-high and valley-deep.
Think Positive.

There used to be millions of members in most species of Animals and Birds. Now they are down to thousands and hundreds.
Think Positive.

Weather is getting more and more irregular and unpredictable.
Think Positive.

Metal everywhere - Concrete everywhere - Plastic everywhere.
Think Positive.

Thinking positive is the height of insanity.
Thinking positive is the height of abnormality.

This is a world that has become completely incapable of feeling Pain, Compassion, Remorse and Guilt.
The planet is getting destroyed moment by moment – and people are thinking positive.

Very soon there will be 1 Animal and 1 Tree left in this world – and people will still be thinking positive.

They will be holding Seminars, Conferences and Global-Summits to save the Environment.

There is an important point which the human-species needs to understand. People think they can save the Environment by doing something.

We can never save the environment by doing something.

It is overactivity that has destroyed environment in the first place.

Human-species is the only one out of millions of species that has indulged in overactivity on this planet [ And for this very reason the human speciesis going to exist on earth for the least amount of time]

And it is not Mild Overactivity – It is Excessive Overactivity – Exponential Overactivity.

We cannot save the environment by doing something.

We can only save it by doing less of what we have been doing - much less of what we have been doing.

If we want to save environment we will have to reduce human activity [overactivity] by 99%.

[b]The Illogical Logic of Man. [/b]

A few birds have got infected with bird-flu and Man has started killing millions of birds.
They say birds are a threat to humans.

Sometime ago there was Mad Cow disease and Man started killing hundreds of thousands of cows.
They said cows are a threat to humans.

Ever since Man came into existence - millions of humans with infectious diseases have transferred such diseases to millions of other people - and will continue to infect millions more in future.
Such people are a threat to rest of the people.
Man should follow the same logic here and kill all infected people.

It is Man who has killed millions of people in Wars and other forms of Violence – and can kill millions more any time in future.
Man should follow the same logic here and kill all people.

It is the human species which is the greatest threat to humans and all other life on this planet - In fact the human species is the only species which is a threat to all life on Earth.

Man has decimated all Animal and Plant species – polluted the Sky and Oceans - and poisioned every square inch of earth.

In a mere 200 - 300 years Industrial Society has destroyed all that Nature laboriously created over a period of millions of years.

Humans pose the greatest threat to other humans.
Humans pose the greatest threat to all other life on earth.

The so-called Rational and Civilized Man should follow the same logic here - and destroy the entire human race.

Please note :

If you indulge in Factory Farming – If you torture the birds – confine millions of them in prison like conditions – depriving them of Sunlight and the freedom to walk and fly – you are creating an environment for the spread of virus and disease.

[b]Lifestyle of Mass Destruction. [/b]

Destruction is an inherent feature of Development.

Progress = Destruction of Nature.
Development = Destruction of Nature.

We can have Sustainable Lifestyle.
We cannot have Sustainable Development.

Development can never be sustainable.
Sustainability and Development cannot exist together.

Development and Sustainability are opposites.
Development and Sustainability are contradictory.

Sustainable Living is associated with consuming less – being satisfied with a simple and frugal life.
Development is associated with never ending desires – always wanting more.

Sustainable lifestyle requires Constancy.
Sustainable lifestyle requires Sameness.
Sustainable lifestyle requires Repetition.

Development is associated with Change.
Development is associated with New.
Development is associated with Transience.

Industrial Societies can never be sustainable – When you make thousands of consumer goods you kill Nature - you kill Animals, Trees, Air, Water and Land.

A Society that does mental work [city based] can never be sustainable - it will keep on making consumer goods - destroying the environment moment by moment.

Only agriculture-based societies that do physical work can be sustainable.

The term Sustainable Development is like the terms

Stationary Walk.
Silent Talk.
Wakeful Sleep.
Dark Sun
Gentle Torture.
Dry Rain.
Peaceful War.

There was a time when Man used to say –

I work in order to feed my family.
I work in order to put Food on the Table.

Today man is putting a lot more than Food on the Table.

Cars, Computers, ipods, Aeroplanes, 200 TV Channels, Luxury Yatchs, Caribbean Vacations, Palatial Homes, Video Phones, Designer Clothes, Designer Drugs, Cosmetic Surgery …………… The list is endless.

Man is putting thousands of consumer goods and services on the Table.
There is too much weight on the Table.
[b]And the Table has begun to creak. [/b]

The more you put on your table the more you take out from the mouths of Animals and Birds.

The more you put on your table the more you kill Animals and Trees.

The more you put on your table the more you kill Water, Air and Land.

The more you put on your table the more you kill Mountains and Valleys.

The more you put on your table the more you kill the Sky and Oceans - the Rivers and Lakes.

There are so many things on the Table that one can barely see the Food.

We need just a few things to live.
And we are making thousands of things.

Billions of people are engaged in making, buying and selling of thousands of consumer goods.

Destroy Shopping Culture.

Go back to Simple Living.
Go back to putting just Food on the Table.

sushil_yadav

[b][I am seeking help from volunteers in spreading this message far and wide][/b]

www.planetsave.com/ps_mambo.../catid,6/
www.freeinfosociety.com/wforum...pic.php
www.ephilosopher.com/bb-topic-244.html
www.corrupt.org/transcende...rum/YaBB.pl

[I want to inform the Moderator that I have also posted this article on boards of other tribes related to keywords in my article]

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

You don't need a two hour infomerchial to tell you the "Secret"

2007-03-29T22:59:42Z

The secret to happiness does truly lie within our own attitude... and even more so...
within our ability to let go...

to fully embrace the now... and to fully trust that whatever you are handed at any given moment is exactly what you need...

and that in fact it is all perfect... and it is ~8)

By having THIS positive attitude you then invite Divine Serendipity into your life....

Thus creating magical Synchronicity all around you....

All your fears are bullshit...

Just let go...

That is the "Secret"

posted in Full Enlightenment - 6 replies

Reality? Illusion?

2007-03-15T22:03:03Z

The only illusion is separation... Everything else is real...

Please keep this in mind at all times... ~8)

posted in Full Enlightenment - 24 replies

Note to Self: You are God

2007-01-26T12:05:13Z

Note to self:

You are god. This may seem very egotistical, but actually it becomes clear that it’s just the opposite as you come to understand the next statement.

You are alone. This does not mean that you loose your family, friends and loved ones that gave you so much comfort throughout your life; it just means that they were never separate from you to begin with. They are within you.

Your mind creates the world around you.

When you die you do not dissolve back into the world around you but instead the world dissolves back into your mind.

When you come into this world you have departed from reality into a world of illusion. You have departed from the real and eternal into the unreal and temporary. This is a paradox because you never really left in the first place. There is no reason for this journey because by its very nature something that is untrue is also unreasonable and so it is that there can be no answer to the question why. It is simply natural that you are not perfect in this world and that you grow old and die. These are the characteristics of that which is not true.

Your higher self (God) is no more concerned about this process than you are concerned about falling asleep at night or expelling a breath. In fact, this process is the breath of life itself and eternal awakening.

With love,

You

This is just my attempt to lay out some thoughts. I have posted this in several other places like casting out a net to see what kinds of different perspectives I could get from people of different interests. It is just a starting point. My goal was to take my thoughts about a very broad and complex topic and try to distill them down to as few words as possible. The intention is that as the reader reads it they are speaking the words to themselves and considering the correctness or incorrectness of each statement. I thought it would be interesting to try to write something in such a way that as I am speaking to another I am also speaking to myself. It’s like standing between two mirrors and seeing reflections of yourself facing away from you stretching off into infinity and leaning forward to whisper a message into your own ear.

My thought is that God is alone. If you think of God as simply that creative force that creates things, and if you think of the space in which these things are created as a mind, then what would you call these things that have been created? I think that you would call them imaginary. This is why I say that God is alone and that all of creation is just imaginary.

I have more thoughts about these things in the blog on my profile. Please check it out if you get a chance.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

reprogramming

2007-01-26T12:03:57Z

« Antichriust Dating 2007 | main | 2007 Antichrist Astrology »
Programmer Needed 16/22 Astrology Mon, January 8, 2007 - 7:52 AM
22/16 Astrology Invitation for Programmers

Copyright (c) 2007 by Klaudio Zic, all rights reserved. www.lulu.com/astrology

Dear friend and programmer!

According to our common interests I, Klaudio Zic, invite you towards an exciting as well as challenging adventure: the programming of the true zodiac and current set of precessed ascendants for astrologic and astronomic purpose. In a nutshell:

* The current eastern horizon displays 16 ascending constellations. Our first task is to find a simple way of determining the ascendant for the current epoch. The true eastern ascendants are Orion, Monoceros, Canis Minor, Hydra, Leo and so on. Aries e.g. does not figure among the precessed ascendants at this epoch, meaning Aries cannot possibly rise in due east at this epoch. Our task is to produce a program that would determine the ascendant or eastern point from the data input e.g. natal data or horary data. We already have the draft graphic design for all the 88 new ascendants.
* Another part of the program would display the true position of the planets in their appropriate IAU constellations, e.g. Venus in Hydra or Jupiter in Ophiuchus. There are of course 22 zodiacal constellations as mainly defined by Venus and the Moon.
* Further elaboration includes the Night and Day house system with add-ins like the Hopi, Navajo, Egyptian, Sumerian, Mayan and Chinese skies. The extensions may include more than 108 western constellations, major dwarf planets, comets and special objects. The graphic design already covers over 500 symbols for the program.

Klaudio Zic

Saturday, January 06, 2007 08:15:59 CE, Venice, Italy.

How to contact us?

The best way for our first contact is by inner "lulu.com" messaging service ("message this storefront owner") implying your login on the lulu.com site. A special e-mail address as well as cell phone number will be made available to the interested programmers. The e-mail however is iau28@yahoo.co.uk. Please put "22/16 PROGRAM" in the subject.

Copyright (c) 2007 by Klaudio Zic, all rights reserved worldwide.
Redistribution of this file in any form is violation of the Copyright Law.
The material has been previously published and is available through web site www.lulu.com/astrology
Copyright (c) 2007 By Klaudio Zic. All Rights Reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, for commercial purposes, without the written permission of the author, except when permitted by law.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Invitation to participate in Global Trial of Mahayoga/Siddhayoga

2007-01-23T01:06:44Z

SHRI SHRIGURAVE NAMAHA

Param Pujya Shri Narayankaka Dhekane Maharaj would like to invite everyone on this earth to participate in a Global Introductory Trial of Mahayoga Shaktipat (Siddhayoga) for the uplift of all humankind. This introductory trial will be held on January 25th, 2007 from 7:06 am to 7:27 am local time, and those interested can participate during that time at no cost from the privacy of their own homes. All are eligible to participate in this trial regardless of religion, race, sex, age, caste or creed. This world-wide trial can be considered to be a “trailer” or a precursor for the awakening of one’s Kundalini Shakti (Universal Life Energy) through Shaktipat (transfer of Energy) from a Siddha Yoga Master. It is a rare opportunity to experience first-hand such a transmission of Energy from a Siddha Guru.

Here’s how to participate:

• At the designated time (January 25th, 2007 from 7:06 am to 7:27am local time) sit comfortably with your eyes closed in a quiet location in your home. Instantly observe a wave of energy along your spinal column.
• Relax your body completely in order to minimize the awareness of your body.
• Let your mind observe your involuntary breathing.
• Observe your experiences during the designated time interval and please report them by e-mail to P. P. Narayankaka Maharaj at (mahayoga_kaka@yahoo.com) or at (info@kundalinishaktipatayoga.net).

India, from time immemorial, has considered our world as one nation, with Prana Shakti/Universal Life Energy as the common basis for all human beings. P. P. Narayankaka Maharaj intends to demonstrate our Universal Brotherhood through this Global Trial of Mahayoga Shaktipat.

P. P. Shri Narayankaka Dhekane Maharaj (Kaka Maharaj) is a leading teacher and proponent of Mahayoga (Siddhayoga), a centuries-old tradition of spiritualism and Yoga that guides its followers to spiritual self-realization, while continuing to live productive lives in society. He is the only living disciple of P. P. Shri Loknath Tirth Swami Maharaj, who initiated other leading 20th century luminaries of Siddha Yoga, including P. P. Shri Gulvani Maharaj. Kaka Maharaj’s objective is to spread the practice of Siddhayoga through Shaktipat, at no cost, so that as many people as possible can achieve spiritual self-realization, thus making the world more peaceful and serene.

More details of Mahayoga (Siddhayoga) can be found at (www.kundalinishaktipatayoga.net).

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Is a dream journal helpful?

2006-12-29T18:21:20Z

As I am somewhat new to this, I would appreciate some advice. I am beginning work on opening my root chakra and have been focusing on focused meditation, pranayama and basic asanas. I have noticed that my dreams have become very vivid and powerful. I awake often with an emotional surge and a clarity of remembering my dreams that are markedly more dynamic than ever before. Can anyone offer advice as to how I should be utilizing this? Is there benefit from logging these dreams in a journal for ongoing healing and developement? Thanks for all help!

Namaste
Tim

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

enlightenment in action

2006-11-03T10:30:59Z

Please speak out. You're invited to join a new tribe dedicated to completely ending the United States of America's unconstitutional and immoral practice of and collusion in torture.

http://tribes.tribe.net/stopalltorture

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

What if your teacher(s) words are not true?

2006-10-03T22:23:51Z

What if all the words in all the books and all the words uttered from all the mouths are not true? What if, however, they all serve the same purpose? Is it possible that no one's words are true but in fact spoken so that the listener's perspective is shaken? If the listener believes in a you and a me, the words are 'all is one.' If the listener believes 'all is one', the words point to an I existing in form, differences, variety. Because it seems like perspectives are fixed in many areas of this network. A perspective from emptiness is not emptiness, and the word emptiness is not emptiness either.
To use words as if we are proving each other wrong is ridiculous.
Remember, the Tao that can be spoken is not the real Tao and yet right after that we qoute lines from a book as if they prove something to be true.
Funny, huh? No perspective is true.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 16 replies

What separates understanding from realization?

2006-09-29T16:19:08Z

You, me, and everyone imaginable have always been, are, and will always be this one awake beingness expressing itself in this eternally present moment. (words.) And yet, how many are aware of it as such? What separates understanding/knowledge from realization?

posted in Full Enlightenment - 3 replies

Are you aware of where your attention lies?

2006-08-31T15:52:04Z

Anything and everything is free to bubble up through ones awareness, but where is your attention? Here and there? Following objects, stopping emotions, restarting stories...where is it? Are you aware of attention? Love to hear your thoughts.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Enligtenment comes from the feminine side

2006-07-18T21:30:19Z

as my master says... with tht in mind
and pleas forgive if you have sen this message posted ll over the place, but it is a task,
and i must do my utmost to fill it
and i can't recruit in person openly, because i have other tasks that i need to do that would become more difficult or downright impossible for me to do at this time if i were known...
so
Bow
Love
light
please continue reading...

Well...
is it me or have things speeded up?
Notice anything about your spirtual practice lately?
Maybe something to 2012 after all...
Cosmic Dissolution/evolution...
whatever is coming i have been given a task, to help make it easier for the planet and all of us inhabitants...
Over the last year i have undergone some drastic energetic changes,
chakras opening,
kundalini rising,
getting dissolved in the void kind of stuff.
(i carry the energy of the White Tara, i am not an avatar)
The cool thing is is that it is easier for all of us to do it now, because the Earth Mother herself is undergoing these changes...
however...
since the balance of the male/female energies are out of balance here it may be a very messy evolution...
unless...
enough people achieve their own awakening...
i asked the higher ups if this was the 100th monkey effect, and they said sort of...
it's getting enough balanced energy out there/here to help this evolution go smoother and hopefully avoid all those doom/gloom predictions that are supposed to usher in the golden Age (not for nothing, me likey the hot/cold water/electricity thing).
So Fridays an hour before sunset your time (or anytime friday if sunset is a bad time for you)(sunset being when the sun has dipped below the horizon) i am asking people to inovke their Root Gurus' and the Divine Mother and dedicate those meditations to the Earth Mother, Gaia and to all of the females of the planet.

at the begining of the Meditation make sure you have a clear picture of your Root Guru, then invoke the Divine Mother, she usually appears to me as a blue/white energy with a female outline, it may be different for you. Somethine it helps to imagine their hands on your head and the enrgy flowing from their hands through your crown chakra.

Now. Don't think you know what will happen, sometimes the energy will work on you, sometimes the energy will go to a specific geographic location, and sometimes you may be raised so high above the Earth you can't see where the energy is going.

The plan is to do the meditations on Fridays to the Summer Solstice than on the Solstice itself. i have not seen beyond this point, it may continue with the same focus, a new focus, or that may be it...who knows?

If you choose to offer your time and heart to this effort, or if you don't THANK YOU, BOW, and much LOVE...you are love you know, an infinite source of it, it is at the core of your being what you are made of, what we all are made of...
perhaps the 2012 shift will be all of humanity moving to the Heart Chakra...
i digress
so i hope you join me and tell as many as you can all over the world to join us
Gaia has supported us and suffered greatly for it, it is time to give back!
Help the Earth Mother and help your fellow beings on this beautiful planet.
Thank you again
LOVE
LIGHT
BOW

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

welcome to the evolution

2006-07-01T10:16:59Z

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-829340602326168198&q=conscious+co+creation

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

as, not of

2006-06-27T14:27:15Z

So, there are only experiences, unlinked and unmeaning
- Actually, only THIS experience-
There is no “mind” – as that is a symbol, a thought that arises
There is no one to have the mind
It is only a way of speaking
Of looking back over a set of experiences and claiming “this process here shows mind exists”. But, there is no mind.
And, there is no one to do the looking back
Has the full realization of your own non-existence hit you yet?
There is no history.
Our story is woven from a set of unconnected experiences.
Who does the weaving?
No one
The appearance of a story being woven is just an appearance
There is no story

Even the appearance that the symbols are discussing other symbols
Is just an appearance.

There truly is no one here, now
And
There is no here or now
There is nothing
The experience is aware
Even to say “this appears to awareness” assumes a subject object where there is none.
It still implies awareness is here – being aware of (itself) over there
This is still missing the point
There is not awareness OF the experience
There is awareness AS the experience

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Symbols Awake!

2006-06-27T14:26:41Z

“I know that the models/analogies that appeared – the heat rising from the hot ground and the source – witness/consciousness – mind – body arising -- are symbols for something that can’t be understood.” The whole idea of symbols, that’s all we really are! Just symbols, constructs of the mind to enable communication, memory, cataloging.
That statement, as it came and I wrote it: symbols for something that can’t be understood
really threw me – the subtle feeling of having the ground fall out from underneath who I think I as – realizing the ego is nothing at all. No substance,. No meaning, no import, nothing – no thing. Just a symbol in the mind of God (gag). Not EVEN THAT.
There IS NO EGO. AT ALL. Never was. Never could be. All of form and existence is just a series of symbols.
If no ego, then where do the symbols appear and are understood – convey meaning – to whom, where.
This gets tricky.
If the mind is a symbol, built to understand and create symbols, then does the mind appear as a symbol to itself?

Is that it? The symbols are aware of themselves?
THAT is the emanation/manifestation? Consciousness is just another way of saying that the symbols spontaneously (?) arise/appear and know themselves and their own meaning?

And, of course, all of this is all just symbols - so no one really here, is there? just symbols spontaneously appearing and conveying meaning.

Thought is a symbol – so all concepts are symbols. All perceptions and sensations and emotions are symbols? So…Even the witness and the “experience" of witnessing is a symbol.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Consciousness – the symbols are self-aware.

Of Course - Understanding, the IS, cannot be understood. Symbols appear so that there is the appearance/enabling of an object for “understanding” to happen – or so it seems in… manifestation /duality! That’s what duality is! A way of describing what happens when the understanding understands itself (and/or understanding manifest as the understood???) the understanding and the understood.
Duality – Understanding and the understood! Of course!
And, in Unicity – understanding and the understood are one! You could say the Understood understands itself, but I think that is cheating.
Understanding cannot be understood in Unicity – Understanding just IS (experience just “is”???!!!) so it manifests into dualism to have something to understand (that sounds a lot more “intentional” and “conscious” and way too anthropomorphic, but it works)
And yes, understanding would “feel the same whether there is something to understand or not.”
(in anthropomorphic terms the understander) and the understood
WHOA…..
But that is not what is happening!
The subject cannot be understood!
Understanding cannot be understood, outside of duality.

In duality, the subject knows the object.
But in Unicity, the subject and object are one.
Experience. Again, in duality, there is an experiencer and experience.
But in Unicity, they are one. The experience, experiences itself! (painter is in the picture)

Now, this has always been there. I have said and read the words. But as long as identification with duality/form was there, true understanding was blocked.
So, enlightenment is liberation from the binds of identification with and even believing in Ego, self, duality. Hence – “Seeing through it – underneath it”
2 Sides of the same coin
And in the middle? between them
Timeless Being
I

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Waking u - Awareness of being Aware

2006-06-27T14:22:04Z

OK, so you "Wake Up". What does this mean?

I think it means becoming aware of the "true nature" of existence and being.

Becoming aware of being aware.

This includes seeing and accepting the "emptiness" underlying all.
There is no "reality" behind things and form, including one's own "self".
It means one sees clearly that there appear to be actions, form, thoughts, consequences, choices, but there is no way (and no one) to actually choose and change what unfolds.

Analogy:
You all of a sudden realize that what you had thought to be an infinite universe is really a kind of Disneyland. And that all things are "mechanical" and "programmed". Including you!
You can clearly see the gears and circuits and the programming happening.
But, you have no "conscious" awareness of how this happens and no ability to "consciously" affect what occurs.
You basically would have to be content to sit and watch "you" do whatever it is that you are programmed to do.
So, in effect, you know you are a programmed machine, and your knowing you are a programmed machine is part of your programming.
So, what are you in reality? Any "thing" you point to is part of the programming.

So, what are you really? Is there something beyond the programming?
If the programming enables/creates all form, then there cannot be any"thing" which is not programmed, not form, not existing.

I call it Pure Potential.

This is not a "thing". It is the infinite, undifferentiated, undefined source of all, infinite possibility. It cannot be said to exist. It needs form, the programming, to "know itself" in the sense of I know that thing.
Without form, space, time, concepts.
Knowing just IS
Understanding just IS
Seeing just IS

So, seeking enlightenment? more programming
Frustration, fear, suffering, love? more programming
No one part of the programming is "better' than another.
How could it be?
Desire to awaken, desire to be free, desire to understand what and how the programming happens.
More programming.
The programmed cannot transcend it's programming.
and,
there is no programmer.

So, no god, no one watching, this is not all happening "somewhere".

So, are there others? are there beings?
Who can say? How would you know
All you "know"
is more programming.
You cannot get outside or beyond your own programming.
Even the idea that you can or the desire to get beyond your own programming
is more programming.
So, relax and accept it
or not
It's still more programming.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Experience Only -No Words Allowed

2006-06-27T14:18:52Z

There’s a line in the movie Phenomenon where John Travolta (whose character may be “awake” in the film) is looking at some wildflowers with a little girl and tells her the Latin name for the flowers.
Then he says: “But that doesn’t make them any more pretty.”

Words, descriptions, concepts are not the experience. The experience cannot be captured in words or concepts. And that, in a nutshell, is a wrap on pretty much the whole of spiritual practice. There is only the experience, which cannot be captured nor shared nor transmitted. There is only the experience of seeing, with no one to do the seeing.

Questions and answers – cannot explain anything, really. Why does a cat stretch and purr when it’s belly is rubbed? Because it does (or appears to, for the purists out there).
Every question determines the form of the answer, and lays the seeds for the next question, and the next and the next.
I feel comfortable saying that part of Enlightenment is about no longer needing to ask questions. No longer asking why, especially “why me, God”?
Because that’s how it is.
To be content with the universe as it is, to have no real preferences, no burning desires, no ambition. No need to be different or better or happier or wealthier or smarter or faster or more attractive, this is enlightenment.
To recognize oneself in all.

To realize that everything in its own way in its own essence in its own interrelationship with everything else is perfect and need not be changed or be different. It is all The One appearing to itself in its many forms, yet no one watches. How cool is that?

In the TV show Kung Fu Caine asks his blind master if he has any ambition. The old man replies yes and tells him he wants to make a pilgrimage to a temple at some point.
Caine replies: “That is not such a great ambition”.
“Ah”, says the old man, “but it is ambition nonetheless”.

Complete acceptance of what is. That it is in YOU and YOU are in IT. There are no boundaries no separation no others no self no one.
That the myriads of colors and forms and perceptions and thoughts and sights and sounds and smells are just you and yet there is really no one here.

Perhaps the famous Seer and Jnani, Bugs Bunny, pointed to this when the ground fell away from him, but he remained, hanging in space. He was asked - but what about the law of gravity?
He replied:
"I never studied law".

Let that just soak in and see where it leads…

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

some quotes

2006-06-27T14:16:33Z

"When you become stabilized in your Self, the continuous commentary of the mind will stop. Your true state is ever-existent."
--Nisargadatta Maharaj

"There is one kind of giving up that has, as its basis, the giving up of one thing in order to get something later. But there is a more genuine giving up where something is given up as being harmful or useless, by itself, not necessarily in exchange for something more acceptable. It is a question of giving up a concept or an illusion out of a conviction about its illusoriness, without any other motive."
--Ramesh Balsekar

When you think there is something to meditate on, you only meditate on what you know already, so you turn in a vicious circle. In reality, meditation is from moment to moment; it is your background, it is the light behind all perceptions. It gives life to all perceptions; it gives reality to all that is perceived. You can never understand what meditation is or what God is, what love is or what peace or freedom is; it is beyond the mind.
--Jean Klein

"Understanding" is not an intellectual, an emotional, or a passing thing. It is something that comes with action, and therefore it is a complete understanding and not a partial understanding. In understanding oneself, one's consciousness and its content--for there is no consciousness without content--one sees there are two principal factors: pleasure and fear. They cannot be separated. Where there is the pursuit of, the insistence on, and the demand for pleasure, there must be in its wake fear. In understanding fear, one must not disregard the fact of pleasure.
--J. Krishnamurti

Our real nature is Liberation, but we imagine that we are bound and make strenuous efforts to become free, although all the while we are free. This is understood only when we reach that state. Then we shall be surprised to find that we were frantically striving to attain something that we always were and are."
--Ramana Maharshi

Know then that true knowledge does not create a new Being for you; it only removes your "ignorant ignorance." Bliss is not added to your nature; it is merely revealed as your true and natural state, eternal and imperishable. The only way to be rid of your grief is to know and be the Self. How can this be unattainable?
--Ramana Maharshi

You are--you always have been--where you want to be led. Actually, there is no "where" that can be led to. Awareness of this obvious position is the answer--just the apperception; nothing to be done. And the tragic irony is that such awareness and apperception cannot be an act of volition. Does your waking state come about by itself, or do you awaken yourself as an act of volition? Indeed, the least effort on "your" part will prevent what otherwise might have happened naturally and spontaneously. And the joke within the joke is that your deliberately not doing anything will also prevent it happening! It is simple, really; "doing."

"What I find difficult-and unacceptable, really-is the wishy-washy reliance on words, on concepts, of so much alleged spirituality. True spirituality is real, down to earth, concrete-it's coming home from appearance to reality."
--Douglas E. Harding

The union that one discovers in contemplative prayer will not be reserved to that time. Moments of silence will overtake you in the course of daily life. Reality will tend to become more transparent. Its divine Source will shine through it.
-- Thomas Keating

"There's Ramana's insistence that it's easier to see What and Who we really are than to see a gooseberry in the palm of our hand. All of which means that there are no preconditions for this essential in-seeing. To oneself one's true nature is forever on display, and how one can pretend otherwise is one of the world's great mysteries. It's available now, just as one is, and does not require the would-be seer to be holy, or virtuous, or learned, or clever, or special in any way. Rather the reverse. What a superb--and woefully neglected--advantage this is!"
--Douglas Harding

"You are that which is prior to any kind of peace or conflict, prior to every sensation, perception, or concept. All this appears and disappears within you. Longing and seeking are also part of these appearances. You don't need the fulfillment of any kind of seeking in order to be what you already are. For this, nothing has to come and nothing has to go. You yourself are the fulfillment.
--Karl Renz

"As part of the drama of manifestation we believe that we're just a little individual searching for our original, timeless nature. While we enjoy the game of seeking, strangely enough, what we're looking for is the closest thing to us, even closer than our breath."
--Tony Parsons

At the moment of Enlightenment everything falls away--everything. Suddenly the ground beneath you is gone, and you are alone. You are alone because you have realized that there is no other; there is only THAT, and YOU ARE THAT.
--Adyashanti

Those who don't feel this life pulling them like a river, those who don't drink dawn like a cup of springwater or take in the sunset like supper, those who don't want to change, let them sleep.
--Rumi

Be conscious of yourself, watch your mind, give it your full attention. Don't look for quick results; there may be none within your noticing. Unknown to you, your psyche will undergo a change, there will be more clarity in your thinking, charity in your feeling, purity in your behavior. You need not aim at these--you will witness the change all the same. For what you are now is the result of inattention and what you become will be the fruit of attention.
--Nisargadatta Maharaj

"The Center of my being is changeless, and where there is no change, there is not time. This, then, is forever my Reality, not something that comes and goes."
--Douglas Harding

What surfaces during meditation are residues of the past. These residues are energy localized through association of ideas--energy mobilized into fear and insecurity. Remain a witness to all this. In being the choiceless observer, attention is motiveless, and all conditioning subsides.
--Jean Klein

It is the nature of the life force to express itself through thoughts and words, so they will keep on coming. If you have to make an effort in the beginning not to get involved, make that effort until it becomes effortless. . . . Thoughts will come in consciousness; witnessing also takes place in consciousness. You must have the conviction that you are consciousness.
--Nisargadatta Maharaj

Identification with the body is so total that it gives one a sense of separate identity. Now, the separate identity is merely a concept, a concept based on the individual body appearing solid.
--Ramesh Balsekar

"The past and the future are simply part of the drama that keeps us locked into the illusion of being separate entities. Once the gate has opened into another possibility, then the real adventure begins . . . Realization does not emerge through our attempts to change our lives; it comes as a direct rediscovery of 'who' it is that lives."
--Tony Parsons

posted in Full Enlightenment - 2 replies

Site for those seeking to awaken

2006-06-27T02:46:03Z

You may find this site useful

www.wakethemup.org

With love and respect

joe

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

videotape yourself telling your inspiring story. Earn $50 and share your positivity!

2006-06-26T00:18:46Z

Have you had something in your life that has profoundly affected you? An act of kindness, grandparent's wisdom, music, art, escaping dependancy on a drug, the truth told my a child, finding the love of your life... We want to hear your stories!

We're looking for people to videotape themselves telling their stories. 5 minutes and under.

We will compensate you $50 for each submission that is accepted to be part of our DVD compilation!

Please visit our website where you can get all the details on how to submit.

go to: doseofinspiration.com

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

interesting new site...

2006-06-02T13:41:11Z

I found the international site for buying from Vedic Arts -- cds, books, pictures, puja items, videos.

It is not a secret site or anything.

"Veda Series will make available hundreds of titles of audio, video and books in near future. We know the benefits of reading, chanting and listening Vedic text, mantras and shlokas. Unfortunately even after fifty seven years of independent India, Vedic wisdom has not been introduced in main stream of Indian education and a large population is unaware of importance and benefits of its own Vedic heritage."

Yay!!!

www.vedic-arts.com/index.jsp

www.vedic-arts.com/aboutus.jsp

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A Nine day Vipassana retreat in the Burmese Mahasi Sayadaw tradition

2006-04-25T16:42:59Z

Vipassana Meditation Retreat !

Saturday the 26 August to Sunday the 3rd of September

A Nine day Vipassana retreat in the Burmese Mahasi Sayadaw tradition with Bhante Bodhidhamma at the Dharmahouse community in the Languedoc national park in the south of France

A Nine day Vipassana retreat in the Burmese Mahasi Sayadaw tradition with Bhante Bodhidhamma

Saturday 26 August to Sunday the 3rd of September

No previous experience needed

Two vegetarian meals are served everyday, one at dawn and another just before noon. Drinks such as fruit juice are offered in the evening. (Special diets or medical needs can be catered for if you let us know in advance of the retreat.) Everyone eats slowly, quietly and mindfully.

Registration is between 3pm and 6pm on Saturday the 26th of August
(Evening soup at 6pm) Everyone leaves after midday lunch on the 3rd.

(It may be possible to stay extra days depending on accomodation - please contact us in advance to make sure)

This retreat is limited to 30 people.

To join this retreat please contact info@thedharmahouse.com

www.thedharmahouse.com

What is the Mahasi meditation technique?

Vipassana as taught by the Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma

The Mahasi Sayadaw

It’s been over two and half thousand years now since the Buddha first expounded the teachings. As time passes, the teaching becomes dulled. But there are always reformation movements throughout the history of Buddhism, some large and some small which revitalise the teachings, the Dhamma. And the Mahasi Sayadaw must be accredited as one of the key teachers in revitalising the practice of vipassana in Theravada Buddhist countries.

U. Sobhana Mahathera was born in 1904 in Upper Burma. So, this year marks the centenary of his birth. He joined the order as a mature boy and went on to complete the traditional studies with distinction. He finally returned to his home town, Seikhum, where he became the abbot of the Monastery, known the Mahasi, The Big Drum. In Burma/Myanmar, monks are often referred to by the place name where they were born or dwell in, hence he became known as the Mahasi Sayadaw.

It was after the Second World War that some high-ranking people, including the then prime minister, U Nu, went looking for a teacher to start a meditation centre in Rangoon/Yangon. The centre was not to be just a monastery, but a place where lay people would be able to practise vipassana. This, it seems, was a little revolution since up until then it was generally presumed that only monastics could gain anything from meditation. This has indeed become special quality of a Mahasi centre in that there are lay teachers and lay practitioners and many of the centres are within the city or town boundaries easily accessible to lay people.

It was at this centre, in 1947 situated just on the boundary of Yangon that the Mahasi Sayadaw, U Sobhana Thera, began to teach a technique which he had developed through his own renowned teacher, U Narada, known as the Mingun Jetawun Sayadaw in Upper Myanmar. It has three main characteristics – observing the breath at the abdomen, noting and going very slow.

Observing the Breath at the Abdomen

We observe the breath, or rather the sensations caused by breathing, in order to bring a moment to moment concentration. It calms the heart-mind because it is a neutral object. There are various places where people feel these sensations more acutely. Some feel them at the nostrils or upper lip, others the rising and falling of the chest and still others in the abdomen. All these places are valid in terms of vipassana mediation. The Mahasi, however, favoured the abdomen.

The first reason is that it is related to slow walking. Just as we observe and experience the foot rising and falling, so we experience the abdomen rising and falling. This means that for the better part of the day, a meditator is aware of the characteristic of transience in a very obvious way. Transience or impermanence (anicca) is one of the ways in which the Buddha asks us to investigate ourselves. Is there anything we experience which is not impermanent? The other two avenues of investigation are unsatifactoriness (dukkha) and not-self (anatta). It is the insights into these Three Characteristics of Existence that lead to liberation from all suffering.

The second reason for favouring the abdomen is that when the attention is placed on the breath at the nostrils, there is a tendency by way of concentration to lose contact with the body. That is why observing the breath at the nostrils is a popular and effective way of achieving those higher states of concentration known as the absorptions, jhana. Here, there is a danger. For when concentration becomes locked into one pointedness on a single object, the effect is to suppress everything else and this stops the process of purifying the heart, our emotional life. This is not to say that concentration practice cannot go hand in hand with vipassana. Indeed, that is well supported in the discourses. Rather, the Mahasi espoused the direct path of vipassana only (ekayano maggo) as it is taught in the Discourse on How to Establish Mindfulness (satipatthanasutta MN 10). Nor does this mean that observing the breath at the nostrils is not a valid technique in vipassana meditation. Indeed, although the Mahasi preferred the abdomen as a place of primary observation, he did not ban anyone from observing sensations at the nostrils.

However, when we do centre on the abdomen or the chest (when the breath is shallow), we remain very much in contact with body. This allows any turbulence in the body caused by our states of mind to manifest and burn off. This is the psychotherapeutic effect of vipassana. For our emotions, moods and mental states express themselves through the body often as blocks, aches and pains and so on and sometimes as raw emotion. All this mental turbulence has to be allowed to express itself within consciousness and it all has to be born patiently.

Noting

The second technique, which is specific to the Mahasi Method, is noting. Paradoxically this is a technique to take a meditator beyond thinking. It’s not an end in itself. The Mahasi was a highly respected scholar. As a young man he had passed Dhammacariya (Teacher of the Dhamma) examination with distinction. At the Sixth Buddhist Council in 1945, when all the texts where reviewed and for the first time all the commentarial literature was edited, the Mahasi Sayadaw was given the task of Pucchaka (Questioner) and Osana (Final Editor) of the texts. Although a scholar, he was not one to confuse intellectual understanding with true experiential insight. Indeed he put that intellect to the service of the Dhamma. He wrote many books on Dhamma and the best introduction to his system still remains his opening talk to beginners – satipatthana vipassana: Discourse on the Basic Practice of the Application of Mindfulness. A more detailed description will be found in his book: Practical Insight Meditation.

According to the Buddha’s teaching, there are two stages of concentrated thought before full concentration is established. The first is a simple noting or naming of the object. This simple labeling, naming, noting whereby the attention is pointed at the object is known as vitakka and is likened to a bee flying towards a flower. It is a word which encapsulates the whole experience. In a child this is very obvious and simplistic. When a two year old is beginning to speak they’ll rejoice at being able to name an object. Car! Car! For that mind at its level of language the word car simply points at the object. There’s not much thought around it since language itself, which allows us to think about an object, is not developed enough for this to happen. For us, the word car conjures up a host of memories and desires.

This is thinking about an object. This mentation is known as, proliferation (papanca), and the purpose of thinking and daydream is to keep us off the presenting object and distract the mind. The Buddha likened this to a monkey, jumping from branch to branch. This is exactly what we have to bring to a stop. Shrinking thought down to a single word is the preliminary effort. But at this stage the meditator is forever having to pull the attention out of wandering and into observing. Indeed this is what the training through a technique is all about - reconditioning consciousness to be present, to be attentive to what’s happening now.

To be effective, this noting has to be done with precise effort. It has to be an acknowledgement of what the body, heart or mind are doing. For instance, when one wakes from a fantasy, there is the first note – arguing, planning, lusting – and then there is a second note and consequent noting, which is an acknowledgement of what is obsessing the mind. In the same way, if a sensation or feeling arises in the body, the first note is a recognition and the second note and all consequent notes are acknowledgements. ‘This is what is really happening now.’ But although there is careful noting, the attention is always placed not on the word, but on the experience - the feeling of a sensation, the feeling of an emotion. (Knowing of a thought or image is always an ‘after-thought’, of course.). It is as though the intuitive intelligence sees through the word and experiences the presenting object directly. In this way the intellectual faculty is brought into the service of that intuitive intelligence, rather than the intuitive intelligence being fogged by conceptual thinking.

Now thought itself can be split into two categories – conceptual and image making. At the breath, for instance, as we note, there will be a concept of rising and falling and also an image of the abdomen in the mind. We do not try to destroy them or in any way obliterate them. We just keep pointing the attention at the feeling of movement, the sensations. This attention, as it grows in strength, will eventually take all the energy out of thinking to the point where there is just the noting word. This is now the second stage of development. The meditator is still noting, but the attention instead of wanting to wander off, becomes stuck as it were on the object. This islikened to a bee landing on and sucking on a flower. This is the second stage of developing right concentration and is called vicara. If the meditator now continues to note, placing the attention more and more on the object, really feeling those sensations, really experiencing them as they arise and pass away, all the energy will be drawn out of the thinking mind. It will stop.

Thinking is always about something. It is an attempt to categorise. What we experience is seen in the light of past experience. What we have experienced in the past is filtered through the way we look at things, our dispositions (sankhara). That is why thought will not allow us to see things anew. If we really want to experience things as they really are, then all conceptual thinking about those things must come to en end. When thinking stops, we must therefore be right there with what is happening. And it is at that point that true vipassana consciousness, samma sati, right awareness, arises and our intuitive intelligence, panna, free of the distortion of thought and image, can finally begin to understand and see the way things really are (nanadassana-yatha-bhutam).

So we don’t have to worry about when to stop the noting. It will just stop once we have arrived at a high enough level of awareness and concentration. Such moments of pure vipassana are usually of very short duration, but they have great potential for insight. These moments are known as khanika samadhi, momentary concentration which lengthen into a moment-to-moment concentrated awareness. This sort of concentration does not depend on a single object as does absorption concentration (arambana samadhi). It takes anything that arises within the mind – sensation, emotion or thought – as its object, but for the purpose of seeing the Three Characteristics of Existence (lakkhana samadhi). In other words, the concentration in vipassana is only there to support awareness (sati) and that intuitive intelligence (panna). It is that steady gaze and exploration of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and not-self that leads to liberation.

For some meditators noting comes with difficulties. For instance, the word is very loud and dominates the meditation. This is simply showing the meditator how blocked they are in conceptual thinking. By patiently pointing the attention at feelings, that intelligence will extricate itself from the conceptual mind. This is often quite a discovery for such meditators that there is another way of experiencing the world. Another is the difficulty of finding the right word. One starts to look for a word as a poet might. But the simplest word is enough and if one does not arise, a general word, such as ‘feeling’, will do.

This noting, of course, is not just limited to the sitting posture. Indeed, it has to become continuous from the moment we wake to the moment we fall asleep. The Mahasi was fond of saying, ‘the continuity of awareness is the secret of success’. Therefore, it becomes important to note the most ‘insignificant’ actions of the day, such as opening a door. Indeed, we have to abandon all hierarchy, thinking that sitting is more important than walking which is more important than eating and so on.

However, it is not only sensations, emotions, wandering mind and actions that have to be noted, but also that category of thought that we experience as intentions. An intention is thought laced with desire and not all desires are unskilful. In fact, we are trying to empower those intentions that are skilful such as the desire to meditate. The reason we note intention before we do anything is because all actions of body, speech and thought have as their instigator an intention. To note an intention gives us the time to acknowledge it as either wholesome or unwholesome. We can then let go of those intentions we discern will lead us to dissatisfaction and empower those that will lead is to contentment.

This is the understanding of kamma. And it is the will (cetana) that the Buddha calls kamma. Will is that power that takes something out of potential into the actual. We have to empower an intention to realise it. If we take a standing position and note our intention to walk, we can do so for a long time. Then suddenly the foot moves. The power that has translated that intention into an action is will and in so doing has committed an act of kamma. These actions when repeated create our habits and a compendium of habits is but our personality. It is this personality that is driving us to our destiny. So noting intentions becomes an essential part of the progress towards liberation.

Noting then is a technique, a contrivance, whereby we can begin to train the attention to remain still on the presenting object and more importantly trick the intellect into coming to a full-stop. For it is all that conceptual thinking that is distorting the way ‘the knowing’ sees. It knows only by way of categories, memory and concepts. By halting that process of conceiving and keeping perception in its simplest form at the point of contact, this intuitive intelligence sees everything again as a child. But not with a child’s understanding. Now that intelligence is primed to observe the Three Characteristics and that is why it liberates itself from the delusion of a mistaken identity and possession of the psychophysical organism. This body, this heart, this mind is not me, not mine and do not in themselves constitute a self.

Going Slow

Going slow, doing things slowly, refers to all those areas of activity the Buddha talks of in the Discourse on How to Establish Mindfulness in the section on doing things mindfully (sampajana-kari hoti), whether looking, dressing, toiletry, eating and so on. When we perform these actions very slowly and deliberately, it sharpens our attentiveness and makes ‘the way things are’ easier to perceive. This is much the same as slowing a film down. The more you slow a film down the more you can see. The flick of a frog’s tongue as it catches a fly. Usually we simply do not see it. But with this film technique, we can discern the whole process. Indeed, you can see the process frame by frame. In the same way, the more we slow down movement, the more easily do we perceive how the body, heart and mind inter-react.

Progress of Insight

Such is the power of this technique that it is possible to guide a meditator through the classic stages of the Insight Knowledges (vipassana nana). These are the insights that lead to a direct experience of nibbana, the first time known as Stream-entry (sotapanna). This whole process is repeated four times to attain the Path and Fruit of the Once-returner (sakadagami), the None-returner (anagami) and Arahat, the enlightened being. The Mahasi explains all this in clear detail in his book, The Progress of Insight.

The Mahasi went on to complete tours in Southeast Asia, USA and Europe. In Britain, he came to lead courses at the Oakenhalt centre near Oxford, owned by the Burmese Saw family. After him came his chief disciples, Sayadaw U Janaka and Sayadaw U Pandita. Unfortunately, the Saw family had to sell Oakenhalt on the sad passing of Mr. Saw and the impetus faded. However, now there are city ‘viharas’ in London and Manchester where Mahasi monks dwell and teach this system. It is hoped that the Satipanya Trust will raise enough interest to establish a Mahasi meditation centre and carry on the work of one of the most eminent vipassana teachers of the last century, the Mahasi Sayadaw.

info@thedharmahouse.com

www.thedharmahouse.com

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New Tribe - SF Bay Area Buddhism and Meditation

2006-04-21T21:47:44Z

Hey Folks,

I have started a tribe called "SF Bay Area Buddhism and Meditation". When wanting to post about NoCal-specific Buddhist events, I noticed that there was a gap beteen the "SF Yoga" tribe, on the one hand, and all the (location non-specific) Buddhism and meditation tribes on the other.

The blurb I wrote for the tribe description says, "A tribe for discussion of the deep Buddhist and meditation scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. Feel free to post or ask about a teacher or center, to announce upcoming events, to ask for rides and sitting partners, etc. Posting about Bay Area-specific topics of interest to Buddhist oriented people (i.e. things happening with Transpersonal Psychology, Hinduism and Taoism, yoga and martial arts, Eckhart Tolle and Rumi, that sort of thing) welcome also, but a main focus on Buddhism and on Buddhist practice is the intention. ¡Vive le Buddhisme et le trésor triple!"

I invite anyone who lives or spends time in Northern California and with an interest in The Buddha Way to join this new tribe. It's public, so you can just sign yerself right up - http://tribes.tribe.net/sfbaybuddhism

Adam

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Integral Mashup - RadioKosmos1

2006-03-28T19:07:53Z

I wanted to make you aware of an audio file I put together last week which you may find interesting. I mixed together a voice track of Eckhart Tolle reading from "Practicing the Power of Now" with some super-mellow ambient jazz/electronica and some tones I produced with a binaural beat generator. For those of you unfamiliar with binaural beats you can read more about them on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats

The whole track is just under 50 minutes. I would love it if you would give a listen (binaural beats require headphones) and let me know what you think.

http://arkady.indymedia.org/media/audio/integralmashups-RadioKosmos1.mp3

Warning: You should not attempt to operate heavy machinery while listening to this file!

;-)

metta,

obi-nine

PS. It's also available as an ogg file for those who are into all that.
http://arkady.indymedia.org/media/audio/integralmashups-RadioKosmos1.ogg

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

I enjoyed this from Ramesh Balsekar, on Enlightenment.

2006-02-22T20:17:24Z

I enjoyoed this passage by Ramesh Balsekar on the nature of Enlightenment with regard to suffering. Hope it is a blessing! :)

Noa
Pathways Toward Enlightenment
http://tribes.tribe.net/pathwayhome

+++++But isn't there still a difference between the enlightened body-mind and the original sleeping awareness before the I Am arises.

All that happens is, when enlightenment takes place, the worries and doubts and problems of life disappear because the personal "me" is not there. And the sense of personal doership is not there. That the Totality or God or the Absolute functions through the organism is a fact whether a particular organism believes it or not.

+++++So from that standpoint, there is no difference between one or the other?

As far as the organism is concerned, yes! But the only difference is that the involved individual organism believes that he or she is the one who is functioning. After enlightenment, it is known that all are instruments through which Totality functions. Totality functions whether there is this understanding or not.

+++++So the only difference is to the individual.

Yes!

+++++The suffering is gone?

Yes, but, "Suffering is gone" needs a certain explanation. Buddha said, "There is suffering, but no one to suffer. There are deeds, but no doer." The suffering may be there but the reaction is not "I" am suffering. Rather, the reaction is that there is suffering, there is pain. From the ordinary man's point of view, when enlightenment takes place the body doesn't suddenly become perfect. The body is liable to ailments, or whatever.

+++++I'm trying to understand the difference between disidentification and attachment.

The best way to understand it, I think, is from the poin tof view of your pain. There's an immediate experience. If it is pain, the ordinary individual says, "I am in pain." But when there is pain after enlightenment, the feeling always is, "There is pain." When asked if he were in pain, Maharaj's immediate response was, "Yes, there is great pain." In other words, the great pain is witnessed.

++++++It's not felt?

Oh, indeed, it is felt!

+++++By whom?

By the organism. Therefore the organism groans. The pain is witnessed, the reaction of the organism to the pain is also witnessed. The pain is there and the reaction of the organism to the pain is there, which may result in a groan or scream. The whole thing is witnessed, the pain and the reaction in the organism. (Ibid. "Enlightenment" pages 136 to 138.)

posted in Full Enlightenment - 2 replies

Would you let Krishnamurti bring up your child?

2006-02-21T22:24:15Z

http://enlightenment101.tribe.net/thread/d41a9757-08bb-49a2-aec1-440564819326

posted in Full Enlightenment - 6 replies

looking for Shaktism / devotional Tantra / Divine Feminine & Asia links

2006-02-13T00:33:51Z

looking for Shakti / Devi / Shakta Tantra information & contacts

Pranams , Jai Mataji !
Namaskar . blessed sadhakas , here is a Goddess devotee , my spiritual name is Somaadi ,
am a bhakta shakta sadhu , i will travel soon to India
and am looking for some information which i could not find
elsewhere , such as :
anything related to Shakti sadhana , pooja , ashrams , maths , orders ,
genuine teachers and sadhus , temples , maths , places of worship , especially in the nature etc ... also , anything else related with Shakti sadhana / Goddess worship in east and west ( mainly India & Asia , but also any other places , in England for example , anything of dianic orientation and other Divine Feminine links ) .
also , i would be happy to exchange and connect with
serious students , practicants and masters of
Shaktism and devotional Tantra ,
who are totally devoted to Maha Devi . i would love to meet friends and connect with spiritual people who will travel to India or who live there since a while .
especially , i would like to know what exactly are the
similarities and differences between the main Shakta schools ,
such as Dakshinachara , Samayachara , Kaula , Sri Vidya .
very interested in exchange on this .
please help me in any way , if you wish .
many thanks , blessings and best wishes , brother Somaadi , eternally HER servant
OM SHAKTI --------- OM TAT SAT
personally at : ambaji_777@hotmail.com

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

By Definition

2006-01-31T07:20:43Z

What is enlightenment?

posted in Full Enlightenment - 25 replies

Retreat Centers

2005-10-31T05:45:36Z

Hi!

I want to sit for an extended time in November or December in Northern or Soutnern CA. The Goenka Retreat times for all locations don't work for me.

Anyone know of affordable silent retreats? Most Buddhist traditions and Yoga-Philosophy traditions are great for me.

What about some place I heard of in Monterey?? Can't remember the name. A Buddhist place I think.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

when Meditating- Dizzy, Whirling, Physical Sensations

2005-09-25T05:32:41Z

Lately the more and more I meditate the more I experience a variety of sensations. It pretty much started out as more of a dizziness that occured, but recently its been stronger and incorporated a whirling feeling as well. Last night was the most intense I've experienced it. It felt as though I was in the ocean and a wave was washing over me. I could feel the sensation spreading across my whole body and causing a whirling similar to that of the tumultuous undercurrent after a wave crashes. It felt like my center of balance was completely off, I wouldn't have been able to walk had I tried (at least it felt this way). There is also a pressure that occurs at my third eye point between my eyebrows. This pressure can get pretty strong as though someone had their finger pressing against my forehead. I am getting this similar sort of sensation on the top of my head now as well, this is almost even more distinct! Sometimes there's an explosion of light inside my head. Sometimes I feel as though I'm weightless, floating. Last night all of these things occured strongly and at one point it was as though the dichotomy of 'inside' and 'outside' disappeared, losing sense of all things physical. Later, after I had finished, my field of vision seemed to move around dizzyingly for a rather short period of time.

Now for my question.

What in the world is going on here? I can't seem to find much info on search engines. Has anyone else experienced this? Can anyone relate what has happened to them? Any other comments? Advice? Insight?

posted in Full Enlightenment - 6 replies

New member wanting to share and learn

2005-08-15T15:01:55Z

Greetings everyone,
My name is Koradon and I just joined tribe.net and I would like to share with you the first and only experience of concious "enlightenment/awareness" I have had anyway here goes:
A little about myself: I began my journey twords enlightenment on New Years Eve through an experience I can only describe as temporary ego loss or mind/body dissasociation where I began to relize that everything I was ever taught in life was a lie (maybe the people teaching me said things didn't know they were teaching lies, but non the less, lies they were). Suddenly the thought struck me, if everything is a lie, then myself as a personality must also be a lie, then began the long and strenuous task of trying to relize myself really is. I started a sort of manifesto in my head (who am I? I am myself. What is myself? myself is my personality. What is my personality? My personality is my being. What is my being? My being is my essance. What is my essance? My essance is my mind. Etc. Etc). After a few hours of this I came to the realization that the brain and the mind are two seperate things, the brain existing in the body, absorbing information through the senses and sending it to the mind (existing a place best described as Heaven, Nirvana, or now after reserching a bit may well be the astral plane) which analizes it, makes decisions, and sends it back to the brain which carries out the commands and creates memories of the information and actions. Then I began to think about reincarnation; could it be that one's mind has existed through several, if not hundreds of lives, gathering information and learning more and more until one's mind (also being one's soul as the are the same thing in this instance) has learned enough to become useful in the plane of existance that one's mind inhabits (or possibly until one's mind knows enough to become of some use to the creator)? It was about this time that I started to feel very strange. All of a sudden I could see (not really "See" but more "sense") a swirling tunnel above me (mind you, I'm laying on my bed in the dark staring straight up at the celing). I was compelled to into the tunnel and see what was on the other side for some part of me knew it was somthing good. Some all knowing, all seeing goodness was at the other side and I HAD to get to it. So I focused all my mental power and focus towards the center of that tunnel. I began moving through it I could actually feel myself being pulled up and through it. I spent another hour or two doing this and I could "sense" that I was nearing the end of the tunnel. All of a sudden a thought struck me: "Is this dying? Am I going to die? I can't die! Oh man, I've got to breath!". So I thought about breathing, I lost my focus, and was spat out of the tunnel in a split second. No matter how hard I've tried I have not been able to copy this experiance, I have absalutly no idea what brought it on or how to do it again. All I know is it's been almost five months and not a day goes by that I don't wish I could have seen the other side of that tunnel. Have any of you had a similar experiance or know how to trigger it at will? Also, has anyone else had the thoughts I was having at the beginning of all of this (with the mind and the brain being two things and going through the "manifesto" and anything else)? Please let me know with your oppinions, I tried to explain my thoughts and experiance with my friends and everyone thought I was either crazy, tripping, or both. I seriously don't know what to think except that I MUST make it all the way through that tunnel even if it means death in this part of existance (because if it does mean death here, at least I now know that there's somthing after this, and by the way I felt as I got closer and closer to the end, I know that it's a good, warm, wise, and exciting somthing). Hit me up with your oppinions, interpretations, and advice please. Thanks for listening yall.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

anyone from boston?

2005-05-31T04:03:26Z

27 m from boston here looking to meet like minded, spiritual people
hit me up

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

Southern Crown system of Enlightenment

2005-05-19T20:09:14Z

http://southerncrown.tribe.net is to facilitate the discussion of the teachings of the Southern Crown Mystery School and its adepts Michael Topper and AAA.

Michael J. Topper [nickname: MT] is the author of some of the most outstanding esoteric literature currently seen on the "market". According to his own writings, he started his spiritual career together with his wife (he calls her "AAA") by practicing a lot of meditation and other "commonly well known" techniques in the beginning of the 70's. At the end of the 70's his hard work reached a sort of culmination point when after an intense meditation session they were left with a permanent faculty of "aura reading".

"This faculty proved to be far more powerful than any [other faculty] about which they'd read, including the celebrated [Aura-reading] faculty of Leadbetter, et. al."

What followed were some more years of intense work from both MT and AAA with these now-visible multidimensional energies; they did a lot of "primary experimentation" with these energies in order to figure out how they work.

Eventually, after some more years, they figured out a real lot about these energies and e.g. how to align them. For example, a theme that is constantly re-appearing over and over again in MT's writings is his axiom that human consciousness is [artificially] being limited due to its current low-level mind/body-integration; and a higher mind/body integration could be reached by raising one's kundalini energy, which is locked at the base of the spine.

Subsequently MT and AAA claim that they have reached a state as high as Enlightenment; and in 1988, MT started to produce books, audio tapes and a magazine ("TNTC - The New Thunderbird Chronicle"). During this time (that is, from 1988 up to 1993 or perhaps 1994) a staggering amount of information arose from MT whose quality is simply breathtaking.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Ways and Means to Enlightenment/Awakening

2005-05-19T12:55:57Z

Hey folks, I just thought I'd share what I've learned about the process of Awakening as understood by the teachers of a healing modality called VortexHealing:

To Awaken, you must first release all of the separation consciousness at the core of your personality - the roots of your karmic issues. You can do this by

1) repeating mantras (particularly one given to you by a satguru),

2) repeating divine names (such as Krishna, Jesus, Kali, etc),

3) going deeply into your suffering with surrender and mindful awareness (this brings your own spark of Awakened consciousness into that part of you that is not Awake, thus releasing it; many forms of yoga and meditation can facilitate this process), or

4) channeling divine consciousness directly into your sense of separation (a technique used by VortexHealing by the Grace of an avatar).

Using any one or a combination of these techniques, you release all the separation consciouness from your core personality. The last issue that you will have to release is fear of physical death. Once you do this, your consciousness will shift into a new place of Freedom. Yet the ego remains.

The next step is to "ripen" your consciousness, going through a series of shifts in consciousness (sometimes called "initiations") that bring more awareness of divine consciousness into your body-mind, and eventually affect the nature of your ego, making it less rigid and more fluid.

There are 10 distinct initiations that occur in this process before a "crack" appears in your ego - i.e. the veil that creates a sense of "I". At this point it becomes possible to Awaken (there are further initiations - 58 more - but they aren't intrinsically necessary for Awakening).

At this point, it could happen at any time - or never in this lifetime. If it's supposed to happen, you can't escape it; otherwise, nothing you can do can make it happen. Although the majority of those who are Enlightened worked very hard at it, nothing they did actually make the Awakening occur - it is an act of Grace that usually comes when you are ready, but no amount of "being ready" will force the hand of your inner Buddha to Awaken before it is time.

Upon Awakening, Free Consciousness recognizes itself, instanly understanding that it was never a person in the first place, and so there never was anything to do stop being one. The practices to hasten Awakening were done as a result of an inner calling to Awakening - not as the cause of the Awakening that occured. There will usually still be a lot of conditioning and unattached ego-consciousness swirling around that center of Freedom, so there is still a process of deepening that occurs after that initial Enlightenment.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 5 replies

The Value of Failure

2005-05-11T15:29:51Z

Hello folks - I want to share with you a recent experience I had that has completely shifted my experience of myself and the world I live in:

For the last four years, I have been trying to create a life in which I can make enough money to sustain myself without having to get caught up in the corporate "machine". I have had some significant successes in this area, but overall it's been a very difficult, long struggle.

Normally, when I focus my intention upon something, I am successful at it, but in this case no matter what I did, I somehow managed to screw things up.

Finally, after many recent weeks of agonizing, I came to the simple realization that all my efforts have led to the complete and total failure to reach my goals - not just in my career, but in literally ALL worldly matters. I had progressed significantly in my spiritual journey, but my worldly journey has gone totally in the toilet.

After coming to that realization, something deep inside me let go, and suddenly I discovered that it's okay to be a failure - there's no need to fight it. It's just an experience like any other. As I integrated this realization, I found that I could be more emotionally vulnerable with my friends, which allowed me to experience myself from a place of Heart - something I had always found very difficult, as mentally-oriented as I am. But now it comes more naturally, and I'm finding it very easy to let go of that compulsive mental-body identification because now I have someplace to GO - my Heart.

It's a very liberating experience, and although it was a painful process to get here, I can't imagine that I would ever have been able to surrender so deeply without the many years of struggle that ultimately led to failure - an exquisite failure for which I am infinitely and humbly grateful. Obviously there is still a lot of work left for me to do, but this was such a powerful defining moment, I thought I would share it with you.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 3 replies

Krsna Prasadam Recipes - Indian Vegetarian, Spiritualized

2005-04-03T18:31:10Z

Please visit the Hare Krsna tribe at http://radha-krsna.tribe.net for a great new series of Krsna prasadam recipes. Offering foodstuffs to God is a potent spiritual practice that helps to purify and propel us towards self-realization.

Today's recipe, Bitter Melon Boats" is the first of hundreds of great vegetarian delights coming in the days ahead. Please join us. Hare Krsna!

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Relax, soften, open, breathe

2005-04-03T04:36:14Z

No where to go. Nothing to do.
I know nothing. I am nothing. I desire nothing.

Neither accepting or rejecting.
No reward or punishment.

Nothing doesn't know it is nothing.
Nothing is not nothing.

Relax, soften, open, breathe.

Silence is immeasurable energy.

Kiss on the lips, Jacob 646-284-5559 NYC

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Meditation for dynamic living, enlightened beings

2005-03-31T07:48:25Z

Hello everyone.

Well, there are many ways to meditate as stated in books and such, but i believe one needs a true Guru/master who has perfected the meditation techniques and is capable of empowering/initiating someone. i've met a Guru like that, and have been taught several techniques which includes a divine shield, healing techniques, goal achieving technique, breathing and meditation. Please read on to find out more. By the way, i'm posting this in other tribes as well, and if this isn't the first time you saw/read this post, i'm sorry.

The Guru's name is Yoga Jnana Sitthar Om Sri Rajayoga Guru Saranam. His Divine Grace is the most powerful sitthar on earth right now who is helping common people like us by initiating/ empowering us. "sitthars" are extremely powerful and enlightened beings who normally would not associate themselves with common people like us. They would be living in forests, mountains etc and meditating there. Sitthars are capable of doing absolutely anything. These beings are able to transform themselves into a mountain/ change into an atom/ materialise things from thin air/ walk on water etc - anything at all! There are many enlightened beings like this at this moment, but only this being right now has chosen to come down and help commoners. In the olden times, commoners who would like to be empowered/ initiated by an enlightened being would have to separate themselves from their family members, and go to the jungles, to live there. They would be staying there serving the Guru that they had chosen, washing the Guru's clothes and doing other services for the Guru. However, at the end of the period of time (which is normally 12 years), it's up to the Guru whether he/she would want to empower that particular person with a particular technique, say the divine shield technique etc. In other words, a commoner who goes to the forests to serve the Guru after a period of 12 years MIGHT be blessed with a divine shield if the Guru is pleased with the disciple's work. Also, the disciples are mostly blessed with A particular technique, and not a bunch of them that i've stated. So, the 12 years is cut down to a one-day course now. Amazing, huh? It's truly a blessing if you ask me. I've been a disciple of His Divine Grace since june 2001, and have been seeing miracles happening before my eyes.

To become a disciple of His Divine Grace, one must attend a programme where he/she would be taught the techniques that i've mentioned earlier. There are no restrictions to take this programme whatsoever, that is, one need NOT become a vegetarian/ quit smoking/ drinking etc if one takes this programme. One would be initiated by His Divine Grace, and would be free to do as he/she pleases. If one practices the techniques taught, one would see miracles happening. This programme would benefit anyone in both, their spiritual AS WELL AS their material life.

Taking the divine shield technique as an example, can you imagine having a divine shield around you 24/7?? meaning you'd be protected from all kinds of dangers - black magic, murders, voodoo, accidents and so on. As one practices the divine shield technique, the shield gets bigger and stronger over time. Say for example, someone took this programme and practised the divine shield technique, and later he got into an accident. But he only escaped with minor bruises on his face. His whole car was smashed etc, but he escaped unharmed. That is the beginning stage. If one even gets into an accident, he/she is saved..but as i mentioned earlier, as one practices the technique, the divine shield gets stronger and stronger, and those kinda incidents wouldn't happen in the first place.

I've had countless numbers of experiences by the blessings of my Master. For example, i used to have asthma, and the specialist told me that asthma is a sickness which cannot be cured, but can only be controlled etc. However, after practicing the healing technique, i've been completely cured from it, and am an asthma-free person till today.

There was this another miracle experienced by another disciple that i know of. He was in the driver seat (with the seat-belt put on), and no one else were there with him at that time. So anyway, as he was driving he got rammed into by a truck and the front part of his car (upto the driver's seat got smashed). The thing was after the accident, the guy realised that he was in the passenger seat (next to the driver seat), with the seat-belt put on. It was like he got transferred from the driver's seat to the passenger's seat before the accident to prevent him from being dead (he sure would have been dead if he was in the driver's seat).

I could go on and on you see, relating experiences, but i'd move on for now.

There is a small payment which is Ringgit Malaysia 730 (a site to convert the Malaysian Ringgit currency to whatever currency your country is using: www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi ) that needs to be made. The money goes for all the poojas that His Divine Grace needs to do before initiating a commoner. This is cause before His Divine Grace can initiate a commoner, part of that person's karma must be absorbed first by His Divine Grace. By the way, these poojas are done in several places in the world by this Guru. I believe that another reason why commoners are supposed to pay to enroll themselves in this programme is cause if one gets it free, one would most likely not appreciate it. On the other hand, if one actually pays a certain amount of hard-earned money, he/she would not want the money to be lost uselessly, and would tend to practice the techniques taught. Some people have told me that the Guru is trying to do some money-making schemes here. LOL. Do you know how ironic that is? Considering the fact that beings like this are capable of materialising the money by themselves, out of thin air.

I once came there's this beautiful quote, which i'd like to share with all of you here: "As we walk on the path of light, we come in touch with the ultimate truth and that ultimate truth is the recognition of being a spirit or soul. We recognize that this human life has a purpose and that the purpose is to not only know ourselves, not only know that we are spirit or soul, but to have our soul merge in God, the source from which we all came. As we understand the purpose of our existence, as we learn the truth, we then try our very best to make that truth available to others."

So that's exactly what i'm trying to do - spreading the Light/ the good word as i've already seen it working for me. It has worked for thousands of people as well.

I've told this to many people online before and some of them found it hard to believe, like it's too good to be true or something, but anyway, i feel it's my duty to let everyone know that something like this truly exists.

I hope all of you have a great day/night.

Light and peace,
nidya

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

sanskrit music

2005-02-27T19:42:00Z

check out http://shantishanti.com

the only sanskrit band in the usa by 2 sisters andrea and sara forman.
their rendition is awesome especially the mrityunjaya mantra ....in "stayiiiing within the light".

posted in Full Enlightenment - 3 replies

Living enligtenment and personal growth

2005-02-26T05:49:28Z

Hello all!

I just joined this tribe as I am highly interested in the subject. Myself I am an individual who has made it his life purpose to explore the underlying dynamics behind human behavior, suffering, injustice and violence

As I have found some very deep and insightflul answers myself I am here to share some of my ideas and thoughts with other like minded individuals. For more information concerning my work, please refer to my website at www.geocities.com/realize2actualiez

thanks for having me, and I am looking forward to a lively and productive exchange.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

non-relativity éé absolute megalopolis!

2004-12-10T23:08:03Z

Sorry for the run-on sentences and the big rant and I posted this is another group but found this one and thought I`d post to share for possible inspiration and thoughts, yes I want them all! aha! okay:
The way I see it is that the problem with people trying to attain enlightenment, most prominently in the subject-object state, that these individuals are trying to view reality in terms of what is most visible to them. In effect that is re-representation of reality.

One way to understanding relativity (the subject-object state), which could be called the second hand perspective, is to understand that the world we live in is encompassed in an undefined space, from the all seeing, or god, perspective it could be said that all of reality rests in it's natural position, and that these interactions, these relativistic modes of reality are really dimensions of reality. Just like super-string theory (physics) -- basically depicts reality as being comprised of an infinite number of dimensions existing at all points in space, each taking up no space what so ever, but instead acting in accordance with one another to form the fabric of space, time, and otherwise. But that's besides the point.

You have time, sense, substance (of the sense), and the sensing (essentially `you`), all arranged over top of this non-relativistic space, time merely being how things rearrange: like our atomic means of proof of time as a clock at the top and bottom of a building being influenced by gravity/force accordingly--thus time being gravity in this sense; the atomic configurations of our brains rearranging themselves--operating this way and operating in response to the outside world (just how the clock is, which makes it seem to be operating With you in space, along with everything else your brain processes; and other atomic operations.) But time does exist in one sense, in that you can't pin-point when this event or that event happens, you can't say that I was alive at this given second and not the other, it all comes down to consciousness and not the material ego-based approach of trying to proof or descriminate between different things we perceive. Instead what`s far more important is that we do perceive, regardless of what it is, whether cognitively visible and acknowledgeable or not.

A place to start on your path to enlightenment would be to try to see this, but most importantly where you see from, if you look hard enough you will find that there is a space behind your eyes, at the center of your mind where you cannot see.

Ask yourself, where is the center of your mind. Some may say it`s in the center of their head, but then where are you seeing the center of your mind or the center of your head from...
I find, at least for me anyway (not going to assume it`s the same for you) that the center of my mind generally rests towards the back of my head, if you want to think of it in terms of the physical.
This seems due to attachment. Creating the idea that we are what we see.
But then, as someone on here questioned, how are we to make decisions, it seems that some people would agree, surely most, and some would not, that decisions are beyond our control and instead are fixed by fate, but in order for their to be a set defined path there needs to be some sort of higher form of action being taken place. And if you look at reality from the all seeing perspective, with the perceiving entity at the top, the consciousness itself as the medium, and that which we are conscious of at the bottom.

Consciousness does not have dimensions, although it may appear so by perceiving things that are of dimension, just like when our perception of time is being removed, there is that focal point between where you are still bound to a perspective of time and where you are not, there is no fine line.

Basically you could say that that which is most real and of course eternal is where all perceives from, followed by consciousness, and lastly what we are conscious of. Whether we can cognitively acknowledge when it happens or not, consciousness could be thought of as the most direct form of communication, consciousness interacts beyond the confines of time, while that which is part of it, the physical reality, takes time to interact.

So for all intents and purposes we are closer to one another than our very own finger tips--now the only question left is do you Think so...

Anyway, I`ll give you that to ponder, I have exceeded my time limit for the day.
good day
-lama nexii

ps, if any of this seemed non-sensical and possibly written out in a daze of confusion of reflections of memories of enlightened moments, then you`re right! it was.. aha! until next time.......

oh and feel free to email me and divinityogi at hotmail, if that info isn`t available on my profile or whatnot, (sry kind of new here) anyway, take care...

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Similarities and Differences

2004-11-26T19:13:28Z

With the utmost care not to judge or measure one path against another I am deeply drawn into comparing the differences and similarities of all the many paths that lead to full enlightenment.

Since the Buddha supposedly practiced and achieved all that one could through developing samadhi, and found it extremely helpful but not able to actually bring complete enlightenment, it is common in Buddhist schools to dismiss Hindu and yogic paths as wonderful yet incomplete.

After a year in Burma I stayed at Yogaville in Virginia where I got my first real exposure to Hindu yogic training and found so many wonderful parallels as to what is taught in Theravada. Even many of the importantpali words had the same meaning and purpose in the sanskrit of Patanjali.

Yet what remained for complete enlightenment was a leap into seedless samadhi. From what i could tell this didn't seem like a parallel description of the Theravadin view and experience of enlightenment.

At Yogaville there is a central belief that ALL paths lead to the same place (Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, etc) so i got frustrated trying to talk about or discuss the differences. I finally got to ask the guru Satchidananda this question in a public talk and he simply said the Buddha was not talking about Seedless Samadhi when he said he tried all training in samadhi to its fullest, and that yes the Buddha's enlightenment was when he reached seedless samadhi.

it's now several years later and it still sounds like the enlightenments of the two paths is different, and that the Theravadins still dismiss that any degree of samadhi cannot be fully liberating.

it does make me onder about alll the various paths and where people have gotten to in following them

posted in Full Enlightenment - 9 replies

Freedom Is...

2004-09-29T19:26:57Z

Freedom is that triumphant state of consciousness that is beyond the influence of desire. The mind ceases to thirst for anything it has seen or heard of; even what is promised in the scriptures.

And supreme freedom is that complete liberation from the world of change that comes of knowing the unbound Self.

-The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1:15-16

posted in Full Enlightenment - 3 replies

freedom train...

2004-09-28T06:06:36Z

If there was a freedom train...

how long would you wait for it to arrive?

If this freedom train's whistle was silent...

how long would you listen for it?

I'll tell you what I would do.

I would wait at the station forever,

and never listen to anything other than silence.

For what if I were to miss the train...

not hear the silent whistle as it approaches?

Will it come again?

How many times has it already come and gone?

What was I doing?

What was I listening to?

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Who are you?

2004-09-25T23:35:55Z

Caution! Anything You say maybe used against You.

So to get serious. What do You really know? Lets start at the basic. Not what we read or hear but digging deeper to our core. Talking of Buddha or Christ or drug experiences will not help. They are just flashing billboards that only point a way. That is the best they can do. Like turn right 5 miles ahead. But to get there you have to give up Totally to everything you are hanging on to "which means everything" and still keep a sound mind. This is the path that awaits everyone but not necessarly in this livetime. Though it does await each upon physical Death. No matter how easy some make it sound-- it is not. Not because it is not easy, but because each carries so much "accumulated" baggage with them. Baggage that began accumulating with the big bang and whatever else you added along the way. The hard part is giving up this baggage and to become Clear in Mind. This is en-lighten-ment. And it does take much effort to put the baggage in the right perspective. Some have more and some have less.

A bull with a ring in its nose is easly led around. Have you noticed your ring lately? It's there, and it is known as a human body. The bull can not get rid of his ring, but he can be in right relationship.

iam

posted in Full Enlightenment - 6 replies

Vigilance :)

2004-09-25T19:11:59Z

your next thought is always the strongest... be vigilant. burn thoughts up in the abundant love of our heart...

be silent... listen... breathe... observe...

is it joy or sorrow?

thank you all for your willingness to be... it takes great courage...

there is only love... and it is infinite...

even pain loves you and shows you the way ;)

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

This Path

2004-08-14T23:37:54Z

"When the celestial leads the earthly, the
celestial is not overcome by the earthly but
rather controls the earthly. Practicing obedience
in danger is the way to guard against danger."

"What superior people see in this is that just
as a great excess of moisture can destroy wood,
so can a great excess of talent and intelligence
in people destroy their character."

"Like the flexibility of wood , they have talent
but do not presume upon it, they have
intelligence but do not rely upon it. Though
simple in appearance, they hold a treasure;
concealing their illumination and nurturing it
in obscurity, they do not seek to be know to
others. They are hidden in a profound privacy
and have no distress."

"The Taoist I CHING"

translated by Thomas Cleary

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

Ready Knowledge

2004-08-09T00:11:53Z

"Don't be negligent, but don't be to eager
either. Take harmony for substance and
accord for function; acting in accord with
the time, to take from the other without
losing from the self, it is beneficial to be
correct. Correct means right; overseeing
correctly, before the proper time arrives one
does not seek forcibly, and when the time
has arrived one does not let it slip by.
When process and measure are right,
the original creative energy does not leak
away, and the mechanism of life does not
stop; that practice is creative and develop-
mental, without obstruction."

"When people can see through everything,
look deeply into themselves, and turn
around to set their minds on essence and
life, then in the midst of trance there
will be a point of living potential that
will subtly emerge - this is the creation
of strength."

"The quality of strength in people is original
innate knowledge, the sane primal energy.
This is called true yang, or the truly unified
vitality, or the truly unified energy.
Confucianism speaks of singleness of mind,
Taoism speaks of embracing the one,
Buddhism speaks of returning to the one -
all of them simply teach people to cultivate
this strong, sound, sane energy."

"Heaven is strength; stronger than strong,
it is the ultimate of firmness. Of that which
is firm, nothing is firmer than heaven.
Heaven as the Tao is the unceasing
circulation of one energy, above and below,
eternally so. Its essence is strong, so it can
create all things with ready knowledge."

"Heaven is the order of life ; life is the quality
of power, which is the original, vast, true
energy. Because it has neither shadow nor
form, yet is lively and active, flowing
ceaselessly, it is called energy. Because it
is most great and most strong, filling the
universe, it is called power. Because it is
the master of myriad beings, the progenitor
of yin and yang, the root of creation, it is
called the order of life. Energy, power, life -
all are one strength. The work of life-building
is consummated in self-strenghtening without
cease. This is the science of following the
pattern of heaven."

"People are born with the energies of yin
and yang and the five elements, so they
have these energies of yin and yang and
the five elements in thier bodies. When
these energies are active in the body, they
constitute the five virtues. The five virtues
in essence have a natural course, which
does not require forced effort; this is called
the path of following nature."

"The function of the five virtues have their
appropriate balance; it will not do to cling to
any of them at the expense of the others. This
is what is called the teaching of the Tao."

"So in the path of practice of the Tao, it is not
a matter of the level of people's talents or
qualities, but of whether of not they have
determination. Without determination, even
talented and intelligent people are incapable
of attaining the Tao; with determination, even
ignorant men and women are capable of
attaining it. As it is said, those who realize it
immediately ascend to the rank of sages,
while those who miss it sink in the stream
forever."

"The Taoist I CHING"

translated by Thomas Cleary

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

Resources

2004-08-05T00:35:20Z

Hello,

I'm a Gnostic Christian, but that's really no different from a true Buddhist or Hindu Seeker. :) You may find the following resources beneficial to your spiritual quest...

Master Samael Aun Weor's books --

http://gnosticweb.com/lastworks.php

Master Rabolu's books --

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/thelostharvest/

Master Belzebuub's free courses --

http://mysticweb.org/phps/netclasses/

I highly recommend Revolutionary Psychology by VM Samael as a first read. Rabolu's books have been especially helpful to me when it comes to understanding and applying the death. He has taken Master Samael's teachings and simplified them quite a bit. Belzebuub took Rabolu's and did the same thing. You will find the mysticweb.org classes highly practical and effective.

Strength to all!

posted in Full Enlightenment - 2 replies

In This Very Life

2004-07-21T22:47:23Z

How many of you have Full Enlightenment as a "goal" in this life?

If so, how's it coming?

If not, what ya waiting for?

posted in Full Enlightenment - 6 replies

somethinge of interest???

2004-07-13T11:55:04Z

http://www.via-visioninaction.org/

The above is a link to an organization that I was remotely involved with recently. The founder of this group, Yasuhiko Kimura, is a Zen Buddhist and speaks often of enlightenment. For those who live in or around Los Angeles, they have many different activities open to the public...often at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore.....the other group I was involved with was the University of Science and Philosophy which is based here in VA.

www.philosophy.org

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies

website on Hinduism

2004-07-04T17:28:24Z

Found this gr8 resource on the web. Really comprehensive..

http://www.hinduism.co.za/

posted in Full Enlightenment - 2 replies

sex and enlightenment

2004-07-04T17:15:48Z

okay, if that didn't get everyone's attention, I'll try another header later.....

the point: I urge everyone to create time and explore the website Amar posted on Hinduism. It's worth your attention.

http://www.hinduism.co.za/ Once you're there.....

?? may I suggest starting with..... Hinduism and Quantum Physics

posted in Full Enlightenment - 1 reply

the right choices

2004-06-28T23:04:20Z

Enlightenment comes through acting in the best interest of our selves and others.
To me, it's that simple.

posted in Full Enlightenment - 2 replies

Non-duality

2004-05-30T18:04:40Z

Anybody on the path of non-duality? Ramana Maharshi et al? Slight confusion about dissolution of the ego. If one reaches an egoless state (total absorbtion as I understand it)How does one cross the road without getting run over? The ego seems to be a dirty word but surely it is essential when carrying out certain tasks? And what is enlightenment to everybody?

posted in Full Enlightenment - 7 replies

Where is everyone?

2004-03-23T23:29:25Z

Here is a post from Enlightened Artist/Writers tribe. Thought it might fit the discussion here.
TL

Impractical(?) Enlightenment

OK here I go opening another so called can of worms. In response to the Gibson movie the other night, Date Line did this special on the subject of 'Faith'. One of the more controversial/interesting segments was about this university study being preformed in Canada where they have now, not only, issolated the area of the brain which is responsible for the God experience, but infact have developed a machine that utilizes magnetic fields to precisely duplicate this ultimate sense of well being. The really interesting aspect of this whole study is in how it will be interpreted on an individual bases. Those who believe in the existence of God and regularly experience this state with or without the aid of a machine, say that this is just one more proof on the existance of God. Where as clearly the majority of the scientific community say this is only proof incontrovertable that this so called God experience is only the arrangement of synaptic imulses in the head.
As for me I've never really tried to put my feelings into words specifically on the subject of God. But from my on direct experience I am convinced that there is a state of being in which all things make sense and it goes by many terms of identification the Taoist would say it is primordial and synonomous with the mind and the innocence of a child, a present moment awareness where we are not driven by impluses of of impetuous compulsion. "; obeying the temperment, they lose the essence of pure innocence." The Buddhist would call this nirvana, and similar to the taoist Christ would call this the kingdom of heaven and 'lest you become as little children' you can not hope to see it. And now there is this whole branch of pyschology devoted to the ecstatic experience or this God awareness that appears in moments of spiritual emergency where evolution is allowed to happen in the reprograming of our awareness to transend ego attachments into the transpersonal.
So, what do you say? All I know is that if you have every been there through the means of a meaningful recapitulation or nde you just know that beyond yourself there is this infinate pool of awareness that does pass all understanding.
TL

posted in Full Enlightenment - 11 replies

philosophy or mysticism?

2004-02-09T03:32:23Z

Some say the 6 darshanas ofHinduism is pure mysticism...some say its metaphysics...some hold, that its philosophy...

What do yu guys think??

posted in Full Enlightenment - 6 replies

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras

2004-02-09T03:20:35Z

Hey guys, d'u practise the yoga sutras as given in the book by Patanjali? Or what if any, form of yoga do yu guys practise or r interested in??

posted in Full Enlightenment - 5 replies

Hey all, thanks for letting me join your tribe!

2004-01-04T02:24:20Z

Hey all you seekers. Thanks for accepting me into the tribe. Now, I do a bunch of crazy stuff way too often and I have a hard time balancing the concepts of "When you take a step towards God then God comes running toward you," and "Hey, at least sit down and meditate on your experiences." I've found the techniques and teachings that work best for me to be the yogas - raja over all but karma, jnana, and bhakti. Anyways, just wanted to say hello.
Peace, Evan

posted in Full Enlightenment - 0 replies