seekingbuddha

This theory is something that has been on my mind for a few months. I would like your opinion on this, in case you are older than 50 and have noticed these changes in body. I have this opinion that as we age, our body does not carry the abundant energy of the youth. This in turn, makes us sensitive enough to notice the energy flow in the body. When the life-force is waning (not waxing like during the teen years), the subtle changes in body become noticeable because the subtlety is not masked by the abundance of energy (that is present during youth). The same goes for spiritual growth. I think people understand their body more as they age. Since body and mind are connected, once a person becomes sensitive enough to notice the subtleties of the body, they also start noticing the subtleties of the mind. This in turn gives rise to spiritual thoughts and growth of mind, as one ages. Wholesome mental factors (like love, kindness etc) start to come about because of this decrease in body energy/vitality. I am not saying that age is the ONLY factor in giving rise to these changes in mind - but, it maybe a strong factor. Another fact is that as we age, mind does not have to face the ups/downs caused by the hormones. For example, there is not much disturbance in mind with sexual thoughts as one would face during teen years. With this comes the stability of mind, giving rise to tranquility. Any other thoughts regarding aging and its effect on energy/mind are good to discuss in this thread.

"....in order to be aware of subtle energy", all one needs is increased level of awareness/mindfulness/constant practice. This is not dependent on age, but is correlated with age; because with time, one has the time to develop these abilities slowly and steadily. With age, the hormonal forces decrease, and one gains more control over their desire/lust/cravings, which leads to better practice. This is why we see most spiritual teachers on the higher end of the age spectrum rather than finding high teachers who are in their twenties. I wish someone had taught me these things when i was in teens/twenties, in a way that i would have understood at that time. All i was given was "do this, don't do that" without explanations. Age does give perspective and wisdom. It is one of the reasons why i spend a lot of time here, hoping that someone young would find this forum discussions useful, and apply it in their life, paying it forward.

Interesting you mention sexual energy. On the night of the new moon, i woke up to a sexual dream which hit me out of the blue because I was not watching any movie or TV show which had R rated content. These kind of dreams seldom happen to me, and when it happens i can usually pin-point the cause of it. It would be usually a sexual thought that was happened in my mind during the past 2 or 3 days. This time, i was totally shocked because i have been busy with other thoughts and had not exposed myself to any thought that could be sexually oriented. But, i did brush it aside soon, and woke up in equanimity, not getting upset about it - i used to get upset about these dreams in past.

Or it could be the other way around ? When you are more aware, you are able to sense the energy around you, and when awareness decreases, the energy seems low / nonexistent. BTW, may i ask how old you are ? Just curious about how age factor plays in.

Why china ? You could do this right here in US, where natural beauty abounds. Have you thought about basic things necessary to run a retreat center like you dream of ? Water supply, food supply, medical emergencies, accessibility for people to get in and out etc ? Life could get real harsh in remote areas. I remember watching this show called "Life below zero", which shows solitude life in Arctic region. Going back to the original topic - one week (one month is even better) of 24x7 practice is very powerful, even within the confines of society. It works great, if one lives alone or has a partner who would understand and cooperate for a week of silence in the home. We work so hard in society so that we have money to seek out sensual pleasures, without understanding these sensual pleasures are a never ending evil in life. A week of solitude and silence becomes more feasible for the multitude, mostly upon retirement.

That was a beautiful poem; made me imagine the life of a monk living in solitude, maybe in a mountain cave/cliff. I imagined a yogi, striving hard, all by himself in a remote forest of asia. What a lonely life, what an incredible solitude, most modern men would go mad in that space. Today is New Moon day, when buddhist monks recite Patimokka (the rules for monks). I have been observing my body energy fluctuations since the last full moon day, and it has been waning. Now, i shall see if it goes up towards the Full moon day. I can not deduce much from this single month of observation, because it may as well be due to other factors in my body / mind.

I agree with this. There is something that can be done that is appealing to the age group a person is in. Earlier is better has been recommended by Bible as well as Buddha. What i wanted to convey is this concept i have :: with age comes decreasing "energy / life-force". This decrease actually is good because it makes it easier for the person to sense ( to see ) the play of the "energies / subtleties of body+mind". I feel spirituality is somehow correlated to this but not necessarily dependent on it. I hope that this conveys what i am thinking, because due to sickness my mental clarity has not been good for a week. Lot of good ideas here, and thanks to all the posts.

I encourage you try, but do not get disheartened if you don't meet 100% of your goals the first time around. I have conducted many self-retreats in my own home and Iiminal has made some good observations. Choosing a location sets the tone, nature being the best place to conduct this. Degree of success depends on your motivation and perseverance ability. To the preceding post, i would add Seclusion (from society if possible. If at home, try to seclude from others as much as possible) A bit of yoga or qi-gong to refresh yourself, when you get bored/tired of meditation all day long Restriction on food - as little as possible (once a day), vegetarian (or fruits only diet). This makes for sharp mind. Sleep short hours, whenever body needs (2 or 3 times a day), but get out of bed as soon as you wakeup. Do not push yourself, in meditation but at the same time remember the 5 hinderances Drink plenty of water (at least 10 cups a day, if not more) Get sunlight (especially the sunrise and sunset hour) Walk a bit, practicing walking meditation Read direct teachings of the Enlightened ones, not spiritual fluff. I try to avoid reading during retreats, but this can help in directing the mind the right way. Do not be disheartened if things don't work out as planned. Repeat the attempt again when possible. I have successfully used ear plugs and eye shades to get "silence" within my home (even though it is silent neighbourhood).

I used to think the same way, when i was 25 to 30 yrs old. God, was i a know-it-all in those years ? I was so stupid with the cockiness of youth. Indeed, it is heart warming to hear the words of others with experience of age. It is possible to re-construct health of body and mind, with some years dedicated to wholesome practices.

Really surprised me that no one was interested in this topic. Perhaps no one is over 50 here :-) Aging is a topic of interest only when you get up there. Until then, there is a denial inside the mind about death, and mind refuses to contemplate death or aging..... During youth, mind would rather contemplate intoxicants and sex :-)

Oneiornaut, Many threads have discussed this topic. But, you are the first one I have seen in this forum, who has the right understanding on this topic. The westerners (including high teachers like Alan Wallace) teach these as if they are separate from the foundation you need to bring this to fruitful results. I know what Alan Wallace teaches in his courses, and I can say he makes it sound simple. Leave alone the books written by westerners, which show the misunderstanding that is spreading in the west about these esoteric practices of yogis. The level of misunderstanding that permeates the internet is amusing to say the least. I do not think different religions have different takes on this; It is more like we, in modern society, have different takes on different religions. All of spirituality is unified, all of it points to the same truth in various ways, all practices lead to the same results, when done properly. People are focusing on wrong foundations.

BTW, all that the ancient yogis and teachers told us about emptiness/nothingness is being proved by modern science these days. But then, that is discussion for another thread. It simply amazes me that nearly 3000 years ago, people knew stuff like "infinity of space" etc. For me, it simply proves that the validity of everything in ancient scripts, though we are having trouble accepting it in current times. I do believe that all that the scriptures say will be accepted by science, in due time, and will not be viewed as esoteric eastern ideas.

Emptiness (or nothingness) in my opinion is two different english words for the one word in ancient scripts (sunyata, sunya etc). As ordinary people who live in society (as opposed to alone in a forest), the closest we will get to emptiness is our deep sleep of an hour or two a night. Even though thoughts & feelings are present during sleep, most of us are not aware of them during deep sleep. This deep sleep state recharges us, in a similar (but not same) way that sunya-state recharges a yogi (who does not need sleep at all). We tap into its limitless potential so that we have energy for the next day of life. This is one way to understand it.

Everything, I believe that the dominant emotions of a person changes over time / age. Contentment arises later, not during youth. Boredom is never good, but stillness/tranquility is different. I also think that everyone experiences all the emotions you listed during their lifetime - the intensity maybe felt at different depths by each one of us.

This is good point. The gravity of the moon actually waxes and wanes to full moon & new moon days. Thus, not only light is high during full moon, but also the gravitational forces on earth (and hence we have high tides). I guess both light and gravity play a role in our energy increase when we gaze upon the full moon.

This is nice explanation. I don't know chinese but wonder what "tai yang" means and what "hue" means. I understand yin and yang since they are popular words. A side note - all 4 big events of Buddha's life happened on a full moon day His birth His enlightenment His first discourse His death

Surprising that this thread got only few posts. This forum having so many people who are advanced practitioners, i was hoping that many would feel the effect of moon, as my acupuncturist says. She is one of most renowned for chinese medicine in my area, which has hundreds of chinese medicine doctors. Certainly i had one of my best days today. I did not feel the need to eat much even though i was mingling with society and spending my energy much more than usual. The only meal of the day (dinner) felt more like an addiction to food and craving for food, rather than a drive of hunger.

Poor goat. I hope at least you ate it, so that its life did not go in vain. Who suggested to you slaughtering an animal ?

This thread is non personal and not directed. I understand what you said. I am not saying one should not seek out teachers; a teacher is absolutely necessary for someone who is serious on the path and wants good progress and results. The intention was just to show that trusted teachers have their defilements, not being enlightened. The intention was to show that a highly evolved mind could fall from that state of mind due to deep rooted sankaras. The intention was to bring some amount of sanity into the blind trust that millions (like in india) place in their teachers, even worshiping some of them as gods. Something else that came in mind ......Pretty much all prophets known in human history (including Buddha himself, according to pali canon) have predicted the decline of human morality, ethics and society in general (despite technological advances). The teachings themselves will also decline in quality and in the understanding. The timeline for this is not clear to me, but I do believe that humans do not live close to nature, like they did 2000+ years ago; and this is one of the reasons why the understanding of the teachings will also decline (as humans separate more and more from living-in-close proximity to nature/animals/forests). Highest levels of spiritual development are possible only for those who live in close proximity to nature. But this is no reason to despair; one can still gain plenty of fruits in this PATH, while living in modern society. Just the degree of attainment differs, based on conditions.

Good point. The videos i posted do not show up on my computer, i don't know why the link is not being shown as i posted it. So, i have given the names next to the videos if you want to look them up. Initial videos were interesting enough, but once you dig around, you can come across their defilements. My intention in posting this, is to inform the many who go to east, looking for a highly-liberated teacher. The post was meant for those who have already advanced from beginning meditation levels, (should be done for years to enhance their readiness to receive teaching from a eastern liberated being). The second purpose of this post is to show that a person can fall from a very high state of mind, and give-in to sensual desires and thus fall to disgrace. So, take every teacher you meet, with a grain of salt. Assuming you are a student advanced enough to go to the east, then you will already possess the ability to easily feel if the teacher is genuine. But a fool will succumb to the teacher's gentle manipulations to retain a student.

Stepos, The following points are in reference to your postings..... It is widely accepted by indian historians that Buddhism died in india for one primary reason: Hinduism embraced Buddhist teachings into its wide array of practices and philosophies. In fact, lot of Hindu's will accept that Buddha is the latest re-incarnation of God. This fact is also substantiated by the posting earlier by forestofemptiness. After all, the deepest layer of truth is NOT fragmented, but humanity has fragmented it into multiple religions. The pali canon is NOT dated 1 st century. Oral transmission of Buddha's words started in the 1st council of Buddha's disciples led by the Elder disciples. This 1st council was held within 100 years of Buddha's death. What you are referring to maybe the 4th council, which happened around the time of Jesus. For this reason, you won't find lot of fragmented thoughts in Pali canon - it will be quite repetitious in its teaching because Buddha's core message was the same, which he repeated to many different people during different discourses. So, this is as close to Buddha's words as you can get. It has been accepted by modern scholars of all schools that the oldest versions of Buddha's words are the Pali canon. I am confident in saying that according to Pali canon (which is the basis for Theraveda tradition), Buddha clearly said there is more beyond Sunya (nothingness or emptiness - choose any such word here). So Sankaracharya is simply reiterating Buddha's words. This reinforces point #1. Because high Hindu teachers like him taught the same teachings of Buddha, Buddhism got absorbed, and declined in India.

For a summary, look at this section that is pointed to by this link - http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wayof.html#sloth Just like all other practices, these things will work once you start doing them, and the depth of results will vary based on your depth of practice and how long you persist in it.

Christoff, It would help if you mention how old you are, and some details about your spiritual practices - like how long you have been doing meditation, qigong etc. How loud are these sounds ? What is the nature of the house (like where is it located - is it in a city or in a quiet village ? , how old is the house etc). How is your health overall ? I have some feeling about the nature of this sound, but do not want to comment without further information. Let your mind relax, and not get anxious about this.

You have stated that "If you store up that boredom, it can turn into depression and grief". So, you have 2 options: Resign yourself to the fact, and state that "I can't do anything about it". Since you meditate, you can Investigate the source/root/cause of your boredom in your meditations. Contemplate on it, only after your mind settles into tranquility of meditation. When you see the cause of the boredom, and stare right at that feeling and see the arising of that feeling, you would have taken one step further towards conquering this negative force. Alternatively, you can also read up on Buddha's suggestions to overcome boredom/laziness (since these two are connected). Buddist scriptures refer to this state of mind using words like sloth & torpor. But, i must warn you that the solution suggested in the scripture may look trivial, but they hide a high depth of meaning in that simplicity.

I have seen this commonality among those who have spiritual practices. There seems to be lot of emotional capacity in them. The words of the African English actor in the movie Species comes to my mind. When asked how can he sense where the Species is, he says "I feel things deeply, thats all". So, i wonder how many of you here have noticed this ability to feel deep feelings of OTHERS. For example, do you sense and feel as strongly as the person on TV (reality show) feels ? Do you feel it to the extent that tears roll down your eyes, when you see someone in real world suffering deeply (say in a funeral or hospital etc.) ? Give some description of how deep the feeling of others is sensed by you - just saying that "Yes, i also feel it deeply" is not enough of a description for others to understand you.