wilfred

my understanding of it was that the person becomes karmically inoperative, ie they have destroyed the subconscious mind and removed all grounds for negative reactions, no rebirth. they may seem normal at surface level but beneath that all everything flows freely through them without any attachment or aversion. this is the culmination of seeing through things to the extent that the mind recognizes there is no grounds for any type of clinging. from what i can gather, direct perception of impermanence is a big one for relinquishing the last parts of our stuff and seeing into past lives doesn't hurt either. whatever it is it seems to require a great deal of concentration in order to be able to see clearly enough. seeing right through to the basic ground/clear light and cessation of all formations. i was told the awakened experience is like in the clear light dream, which is my only direct point of reference. light is coming out of everything and it seems like the mind is everywhere at once. it probably isn't quite that overwhelming if you're used to it though in terms of teaching, of which i have limited experience, some things seem to ring true at a deeper level. especially as far as transmission goes, with reactions occurring out of nowhere. recognition at a much deeper than intellectual level. these are the kind of things i take away as truths, experiences beyond my understanding, or understanding at all. and then the superpowers. being aware of this type of stuff going on was probably as big a factor as the teaching itself for getting me on the path. not that it means anything by itself, but it certainly demonstrates that enlightenment or attainments/realization are a thing if those kind of things are possible. eg taking other people's minds as objects and being able to place energy there.

i'll have a stab - consciousness is the arising and awareness where it's arising from. based on conditions, subjective vs permeating through everything, 'objectless'.

i'm quite big on the yin tonics/superfoods. you could look into a herb 'dendrobium stem'. it's a flower and dragon herbs have a couple of products where it's the lead ingredient- 'healer's tea' and my go-to 'yin replenisher' tincture. that and a load of watermelon hooks you up real fast for yin jing. goji/schisandra are other ones and the obvious he shou wu/rehmannia seem to be good ones to take all the time, same for ginseng. oh yeah and ant! ants have crazy amount of zinc/jing. here's some watermelon juice, you need to eat/use the rind which is where a lot of the magic (amino acid - citrulline) is. it gives it this orangey glow!

heya peeps, i thought i'd throw this one on the buddhist board as this is very much the context to my practice/teachings. i thought i'd seek some input about something that seems to have happened lately, see if people here can offer an explanation to what might be going on. i've had teaching on a few retreats and started training in meditation throughout the past year or so. additional context is that i sought this out having been struggling with chronic illness for many years (late 20s now). the dhamma provided all the answers to what's been going on, how to start to correct this stuff and even clues to 'interesting' childhood experiences. i have a lot of unwholesome kamma/energy so it's a slow process wearing away the conditioning - the root cause of my sickness (autoimmune in nature). however it's progressing nicely via a body parts healing meditation, a very powerful practice indeed. i've also been lucky enough to receive dhamma from a fully realized teacher, transmission, etc, which is absolutely mind blowing stuff. anyways, i was at a sweet spot when i started getting into the healing meditation a couple of months ago. there was a point where i was getting decent awareness throughout the body, but not too much or with so much chi that the deep stuff was coming out and pressing my buttons. i was able to get really settled just abiding, always a pleasant experience for someone as disorganized as myself. i was also getting a lot of awareness while asleep, remembering dreams in lots of detail and on one occasion experienced a lucid state where the dream world was totally luminous, light shining out of everything. i was more present that i'd ever while awake and my field of awareness was infinite, though i quickly got excited and snapped out of it. it seemed to be around that time that things changed something happened to the 'field' in the waking state and things have remained that way ever since. it's not worrying or anything, just very curious as it's is now a permanent thing. the best way i can describe it is that the field is much broader (kind of like in the lucid dream but not that expansive) but at the same time much more focused. it's particularly noticeable when walking along corridors or walkways with walls or something on each side. it's like a tunnel effect and really cool. there's something about walking down long narrow corridors which really amplifies the effect of whatever happened to the field. i'm sure people will know what i'm talking about. there's also something else where if i focus on something, particularly if engaging another person, that the entire background kind of goes out of focus and i'm totally locked into them or it. it's really strange and again very cool, i had only previously had this experience when receiving transmission from the teacher. i'm also more sensitive than before, though i already have too much of this and barely any equanimity, hence getting into such a mess. moving into other peoples energy field is more noticeable and it's easier to be aware of how that's interacting with my own. certain people also give off a 'special' energy and that's something i was aware of as a child. so, meditators, can anyone offer an explanation of what might of happened that triggered the change in the field and why? it did seem to happen around the time of the lucid dream experience and that's probably not a coincidence. likewise, i'm sure the 'field' will open up and change in a myriad of ways as i progress further into healing, the practices and living in alignment with the universe. especially after such a long time of trying to bend it to my will and breaking the rules!

equanimity. also feeling love closes the aversion mind door, an antidote for unwholesome feelings.

wow these folk are taking shaking to the next level! the chi kung warm up (pre-meditation practice) i've been taught has some shaking down in it and i find that part to be immensely useful. helps opening up, bringing the chi online and loosens the charge for people with a lot of stuff coming up. a good shake then refining the energy by bringing it back down to finish the warm up off. will definitely check out the video, makes sense this is an actual practice...

i'd want to know why he hadn't cured his diabetes through the supposed mastery? the whole thing sounds very creepy and fradulent.

since i started a proper meditation practice, caffeine is kinda a no-no. last time i had a big cup of coffee i felt on edge and jittery the entire day afterward i find a green tea in the morning provides a small amount of caffeine but in a more balanced way. you get the antioxidant and bowel cleansing effects without disturbing the mind or revving up the physical system too much (bad for jing). sorry if that isn't helpful, just echoing the other comments that caffeine is more trouble than it's worth. i would look into ginseng as a big pick me up substance.

that's the guy, though people are more familiar with the japanese chap who wrote those books on water structure recently. here's the site i picked up my device from, they have some good info, videos etc and also books based on Schauberger's work http://simplylivingwater.com/filtering-restructuring-water/

i have this thing called a double egg vortexer that you spin your water in. as i can't see the water at a molecular level, i'll just say that 'spun' water takes noticably different, like lighter/brighter to non-spun water, whether it be out of a tap, bottle or distiller. it's even more noticable when adding it to a cordial, the spun water makes much smoother tasting mixes.

been taking tonic herbs for a fair while now, shou wu is one of the daily ones. seems to have done a lot of good for my sexual organs, hair and noticably increasing creative energy. i see them as extensions to a healthy diet, which will inevitably have all kinds of foods that tonify or nourish jing/chi in various ways. the danger seems to be if you're overdoing something you shouldn't be and aren't particularly aware of it, or are getting a lot of awareness coming online without accompanying equanimity. i'm just starting to use some of the herbs that fall under the category of shen tonics, they're awesome, especially when used along with meditation practice. recommend the herbs from dragon herbs ('shou wu formula' is a good he shou wu based tonic) or jing tonics, both of those companies are gold standard in my experience. others have been hit and miss, though there seems to be a bigger market for this stuff in the US. be interested to hear what herbs other people here use regularly or even daily? for me it's a shou wu formula, a cordyceps based one, schisandra, goji and ginseng. just getting onto trying some of the yang/shen specific herbs, would also like to cultivate my own reishi if possible, seems like a cool thing to do

depends what's 'in there' energy wise, doesn't it? going with nature could be that for a healthy young adult, but it can get out of control and become like an addiction if we follow primal urges down to their logical conclusions. such is the nature of physical pleasures always leaving us wanting more. a person who has gained control of their mind and can employ skilful transmutation methods is equally going with nature. i guess it gets tricky, how do you get from A to B. someone who has recognised our animal drive as a problem is already tapping into higher functions, starting down the path of getting control over their 'energy'. it would be a shame to have surgeries or take drugs as a solution after recognising this truth.

for what it's worth the nofap guys (doing this stuff without really understanding the processes at work, but getting great results) swear by cold showers for taking the edge off sensual cravings. a basic chi kung practice can also calms things down a lot, particularly shaking the whole body down to get the chi moving, clearing stagnation in the pelvic area. but these are ultimately coping mechanisms, letting the system open up and rebalance to clear excessive attachment energy. if you've overstimulated or even entertained these type of thoughts too much, you'll have to be with them without reaction for whatever length of time it takes for them to pass.

mind purification path is the only legit way to get a handle on this sexual stuff, from what i've experienced. still struggling but the answer is quite obviously that, to cultivate the qualities of mind that allow for skilful transmutation as you described. anything else is going against nature or trying to bend the rules too much, which often leads to bad things and ultimately more suffering. no quick fixes here.

pretty much, but the extent of its understanding stops way before things get interesting, from what i can gather.

exactly, they are effectively waste products and one of the finest superfoods given the nutritional profile. it's interesting how some vegetarians will eat them and some won't, though with vegans they're totally off the cards. perhaps the commercially raised chickens don't have the best living conditions, but ideally you have a few of your own hens in the garden. they can produce more than enough eggs to feed you and a family. long term that's what i'd like to do, you can give them vegetable scraps and keep them on a healthy diet too

my diet is is mainly veggie sources, but still eat a fair amount of eggs, fish a couple of times a week and chicken less often. i am on the yin side, so i make sure i use spices and yang tonics (particularly ginseng) to balance things out. if you want to get as much bang for buck out of fish as a b12 souce - sardines and mackrel pack the biggest punch. i also take a krill oil capsule daily. this recent jing herbs podcast has a guy on talking about the importance of having a good source of choline in the diet and is coming from an eastern angle so people here will relate. in fact, this podcast is generally very interesting for anyone interested in tonics, balancing energy with herbs etc http://www.jingherbsradio.com/roger-drummer-brain-stress-and-adaptogenic-energy-episode-25/

i am the same brother and it seems much of the fear is rooted in the very reaction you get when you feel you've 'chickened' out or so forth, that uneasy regretful feeling in the stomach, self-doubt. it's a tough one, most of us suffer some form of social anxiety in some form or another, especially around certain people. i'm not sure there's an easy way out but this is certainly the right path to be on. enough meditation and purification of the mind, letting go of past negative reactions and our ability to enter fully into those moments of opportunity will only increase. better yet, the faculty to directly perceive the right moments and people to interact with should also become stronger

i think the Wachowski's have more than a passing interest in Buddhism and that's what's most reflected in 'The Matrix'. one of their latest titles 'Cloud Atlas' is quite clearly looking at dependant origination.

yup this seems to be a huge fallacy with the whole raw-vegan movement, that it's the optimal diet for everyone. i don't think you'll get any arguments about the fibre side of things, but energetically it's only suited to people with extreme abundance of yang or more fire types. i've seen these type of people thrive on that diet, but they often make the mistake of presuming it would be best for everyone, without considering individual constitution. especially for those of us living in colder climates, it's all about balance. a lot of people pursue those type of diets without really knowing what they're doing and it can be dangerous. best thing is to supplement with green juicing to get a boost of raw micronutrients, maybe use extra enzymes if the body has problems metabolizing.

you literally are a result of karma. your physical body is a record of it, your current views and attitude - ego, conditioning, is being driven by the current stock and renewal of this karma. our volition is rooted in this charge of feelings/energy and not any mental process. is it karma that some people learn how to 'fruit' or release it? it has to be, but it can get confusing if we're talking about it in relation to whether free will is a thing. if the person lets go of it is it gone? well it is, but depending how deeply you let go it could come back, given the same reactions/situations. it's like an onion there are deeper and deeper layers of this stuff. there's the idea that most of what is happening to you in this life is the fruiting of karma from a previous life. not many people will be able to let go that deeply and gain that level of insight, so much of what we can feel is easily identifiable as our own shit. i've been taught that trying to get to the sqaure root of unwholesome karma (the sense of ourself, that everything is happening to me, pride) is the ticket for dissolving it all faster. unroot the major branches of these negative states of mind and all associated stuff breaks down automatically. personally i haven't been able to make those quantum leaps yet and it's a tough process of letting go of the worst stuff. you have to have equanimity to feelings that surface (will happen naturally through cultivation, retention etc, getting more awareness coming in) and then it's gone, fruited. there are ways to speed this up significantly - meditation practices, psychedelics, rituals etc, but it's not always appropriate or safe to be doing this in the daily life.

if the oft-touted placebo effect does indeed point to mind over matter, surely that points strongly to the possibility of something going on beyond the material realm. are there many scientists open to this possibility or is the conclusion generally along the lines of humans are stupid creatures? that's kind of why i'm averse to 'placebo' effect being thrown out everywhere, it's used to bolster existing views, particularly in medicine, instead of dismantling them.

broadly speaking is not 'maturity' a deeper sense of equanimity, people who are less full of themselves? content with who they are and what's going on around them, without being a hassle to others. the problem is conventional 'maturity' as society sees it is often clinging to a specific set of views about behaviour, morals, etc which is very much conditioned. even the idea of spiritual 'maturity' is inevitably clinging to a set of views. the way i see it is not a conventional progression but more a regression and recognition of what's already inside us. realization is a better term. as to why people stay the same, it's just conditioning propping itself up. people are more likely to go backward, in a spiitual sense, with a lifetime of this stuff floating about and perpetuating itself. there's that saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' you hear and it's a fallacy because we aren't dogs. it's more a don't want and an increased attachment to this thing due to the time we've invested into it.

it gets personal before it aint personal...what went in feels the same on the way out. acceptance can be a lifelong journey, be gentle and good luck brother.

seems like if you truly take the world as it is, it opens us up to all kinds of abuse and negativity from those caught up in the fog of modern life. i see that is what OP is saying, how do you stay light hearted in spite of that. it's hard, isn't it. lots of equanimity and understanding for others is needed as you go about your thing. definitely something that's a bigger hindrance for creative people, in my experience. we feel compelled to see all this dynamic change when things come into view and want to project that onto the world. it's certainly something i've been clinging to, but a shitty one considering how vain it is, to something think we're able to change the world. that's typically the work of an artist to share insight in more subtle ways.