Phenomniverse

Does it make a sound? Victorious thunderclap! The silence roaring.

The triple word score Aha! The prize awaits me What me? What prize now?

Where does it begin? this whirling dance of being now see its true face

The caption above my picture on my posts has recently changed from Tao Bum to Tao Master. I'm flattered, but I didn't change this. Who sets these member titles if not me?

white heaven, black earth twisting round each other always who knows its ending?

That mention of trika basically equates it (dismissively) with advaita. But they're not the same, and it doesn't really satisfy my curiosity. You point though, I guess, is that I should clarify my understanding of the dzogchen view and then compare it with advaita and kashmir shaivism myself. Probably that's what I'll do, but I'm sure there are others who have looked into this point and I'd like to find out what they have to say about it. John Myrdhin Reynolds does touch on it a bit in his "Golden Letters" book. Alexis Sanderson probably has something to say about it too, although I haven't seen the issue thoroughly addressed.

Yep, so as I understand it madhyamaka, like dzogchen, advaita vedanta, kashmiri shaivism and zen all culminate in some kind of recognition of non-duality, regardless of what conceptual methods they use to get there. The nyingma schema of the nine yanas regards dzogchen to be superior to madhyamaka in that it represents a refinement of the view with subsequent implications in practice and fruition. But what of kashmiri shaivism, or advaita? Maybe its impossible to place these in a sequence of progressively more refined buddhist views, but in terms of their ontological or soteriological outcome, ie the 'enlightenment' produced, what can be said? Is the perenialist view correct, that all traditions lead to the same place? Or is there genuine, albeit subtle distinctions between the outcomes of these traditions? Certainly the traditions mentioned all revolve around similar experiential insights, but is it fair to say that some traditions represent a clearer apprehension of that insight? And if so, how can the claims of different traditions be compared? I guess what I'm trying to establish in my own mind is some kind of meta-theory of comparative soteriology, which may be impossible without accepting at least some of the claims of one tradition or another. Any thoughts, anyone?

Thanks again Simple_Jack. Your quote from Establishing Appearances As Divine shows a series of views in Buddhism that eliminates progressively subtler obscurations. It is probably from having been exposed to this kind of sequence of views in the past that I am interested in seeing where other 'top shelf' views fit into such a schema, especially Advaita Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism, and also Zen. But in particular I'd also like to see a clear explanation of what is different between Kashmir Shaivism and Dzogchen in terms of view and also (more importantly) in terms of the existential outcome from practicing according to these two traditions. I don't know how to move a conversation that's already ongoing, if a moderator wants to do so I'm happy to continue this dialogue wherever.

Nice post, thank horus. Are you saying that you learned these 'baby steps' without a teacher? Like from a book or something?

Acupuncture can be good for healing old scars, and will usually cause some brightening and reddening around them in the short term as fresh qi and blood are brought to the area. Maybe your energy work is doing something similar, in which case in the longer term the scar should heal up better than it might have otherwise.

In the foliage damp and fallen on the ground: a sapling growing

Elsewhere? Where/who do you recommend?

Hi all, I've just come across this forum while looking for tai chi and or internal qi gong teachers in Victoria, Australia. I've been practicing a pretty simple form of qigong (tai chi qigong shibashi) for quite a few years, and dabbled a bit in a few other forms like shaolin sanchien and chan mei gong. I've done a little bit of yang style tai chi also, and have delved fairly deeply into various schools of buddhism as well as yoga. I also studied traditional chinese medicine for a few years so am familiar with many of the conceptual aspects of daoism. I'm presently looking to deepen my qigong practice and possibly learn some internal martial art, mostly interested in tai chi or ba gua, so if anyone has any suggestions for a teacher in my area I'd be interested to hear about it. Also just interested to share experiences with other like minded people. Regards, Phenomniverse.