RigdzinTrinley

you get prepaid cards anywhere in india, ask the local shop owners what is the best card for international calls or internet or whatever you need - takes half a day to make you can also ask if they have a simcard of a local person that they didn't need, then the card will never be closed (otherwise simcards only last upto 6months now for westerners - which if you want to stay longer or come more often, make expad and local friends etc is a real pain in the ass)

I am some sort of a India wallah so here goes my advice: one spiritual thing: relaxed mind, nothing will run like you want it to run, and that is okay, northing to grasp all is empty - enjoy the play of appearances two mental things: don't buy anything for the price they want to sell it to you on the street - develop a nose that smells B.S. and all kinds of fraud. Be open and relaxed with people, be funny - they'll stop trying to bullshit you, if they say a wrong price for a riksha, taxi whatever..... just remind them that Bhagawan is watching and give em a smack on hte shoulder... (advanced street charisma in india, don't try it to early...) couple material things: *Immodium, fantastic rain jacket (monsoon starts soon), good coffee and chocolate (for me if you come visit me in H.P.), flash light (still power cuts are pretty common here)... but you know you can buy almost anything here, from immodium like medicin to flash light. Even chocolate and coffee (but the good stuff is expansive) *if its your first trip to india, my bowels are by now almost adamantine bowels, I can even eat street food (most of the time - hence "almost" adamantine) if you never had diarreah on a local bus - you never really been in india I dare say just from the bus rides in himachal pradesh my mulabandha became firm Love and enjoy

yes the essence of thought is dharmakaya and I think I also said to simply say "the thought is dharmakaya" is correct if explained and understood correctly, but could be misunderstood more easier then "the essence of thought is dharmakaya" both are easier to understand then buddhas instructions "to slay ones father and mother, the king and two pure ones etc."

didn't post that or you meant the whole thread

yes what is emptiness? good question isn't it

not following a system leads to neurotic thought patterns called "not following a system" whereas following a system will lead to neurotic thought patterns called "following a system" I do pray you find a non-system to follow by radically being yourself as you are without extra gimmicks in order to undo yourself completely, utterly so that only the suchness of reality is left free of subject/object duality - all of that under the guidance of an expert master that is so selfless that he/she manifests as a pure polished mirror; the magical display of your own nature of mind

very short on the buddhist concept of emptiness emptiness is not a creative agent that gives rise to something, emptiness is not a thing in itself - emptiness is empty of itself it is merely a method to go beyond the four ontological extremes of existence/non existence/both existence and non existence/ neither existence nor non existence which means to go beyond ordinary mind that always perceives "this" or "that" - whereas rigpa sees non-seeing, that means that mind is discovered to be neitehr existent/non existent/both/neither - inconceivable, inexpressible baseless emptiness as long as mind has an conceptual target such as existence/non existence etc. it is not jnana or gnosis (primordial wisdom) so I have no clue what it measn that the dao gives rise to the ten thousand things but I can say with some confidence that emptiness doesn't give rise or create anything it is a teaching that shows that appearances (inside or outside) do not arise in actuality from 1)themselves 2)other 3)themselves adn other 4)neither themselves nor other (uncaused) I hope this didn't make any sense

I liked this book very much too I would suggest the following books by Hesse: Steppenwolf Narziss and Goldmund Siddharta

the very first book that made a big impression on my was lord of the rings - I read it with 13 I think. the second book that made a big impression on me was Ramana Maharshis "who am I" and the third one must have been Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoches "cutting through spiritual materialism" after I learned tibetan several other books changed my life also because I was lucky to receive long teachings on them, sometimes lasting several months The Way of the bodhisattva by shantideva and Khenpo Khunpels commantery on it called "the nectar of manjushries speech" (this commantery is based on Patrul Rinpoches teachings) - I dare say knowing, understanding and trying to practice what is in these two books will make sure that the spiritual path wont go wrong and bear fruit, and understanding the Bodhisattvacharyavatara one understood the whole of the Sutrasection of the Mahayana teachings (plus establishing a basis for the understanding of Tantra) The words of my perfect teacher by Patrul Rinpoche which I must have read all together more then 10 times and every time I readi it - it shows me my shortcomings, humbles me and inspires me to become a better human being The precious beacon of certainty by Ju Mipham Rinpoche - a very deep exploration of reality, which left me speechless many many times, covering all the major point of the vast and profound teachings of sutra, tantra and dzogchen and condensing them into a single coherent enlightened intend The precious treasury of Dharmadatu by Longchenpa - I simply stay silent The treasury of precious Qualities by Jigme Lingpa - probably the most complete presentation of the different spiritual methods, views and ethics that form the life force of the dzogchen lineage I follow the teachings and transmissions of these buddhist treatises changed me forever and I slowly understand the preciousness of the indo tibetan tradition, its inconceivable vastness, how kind the masters are who uphold and teach this blend of dharma and well lets stop here... there is a beautiful example that Jigme Lingpa uses in his yönten dzö (treasury of precious qualities): like birds that try to fly till the end of space will exhaust themselves in their endevour, likewise it is impossible to express the infinite qualities of the budddha and his teaching

I don't bloody know

space is that which allows obstructive contact to take place

the definition of a definition is a bit different in buddhist philosophy (indian philosophy?) I was stealing this from C Ts post about teachings that Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche gave on Madhyamika Philosophy "When we talk of definitions, we have to establish what the definition of a ‘definition’ is. Until we can agree upon this, some loopholes could arise, and we do not want any loopholes when we study. Dharmakirti’s definition of a ‘definition’ is that it is free from the three kinds of fault of being too all encompassing, not all-encompassing enough, and not possible." 1) too all encompassing (sometimes also called over - pervasive) would be f.e.: the definition of space is "it is an an object of knowledge" well there are infinite other objects of knowledge out there - so this definition of space would be over-pervasive 2) not pervasive enough (or not all-encompassing enough) f.e.: hmm more difficult, the definition of space is "it is uncompounded" well it is also all pervading and a mere mental label and some other things - so that definition is not pervasive enough 3) not possible is simple, the definition of space is "a human with twelve legs"

in Buddhist Philosophy space is talked about from different angles so there is uncomposed space it's definition is: "an absence of obstructive contact" space is all pervading because there is an absence of obstructive contact everywhere, even where solid objects exist, for if there would be no absence of obstructive contact then solid obstructive objects could not exist (they would have no space to be there) here one can not really speak of north east south west up down and there is composed space: when one would move a solid object in order to make space to continue walking on a path f.e. here it makes sense to speak about up and down etc.

I will try later again

Dear Sir, could you write it down for me - I sit in india with an incredible bad internet connection and limited bandwidth... pretty please

maybe question the little voice in the upper storeys who decided that "it went wrong" - why it went wrong exactly and what that actually means "it went wrong"? because somehow "it" is never right or wrong in the final analysis I am pretty sure that voice can't give you a sufficient answer and when it becomes "quiet" simply rest there and observe "fundamentally there is no problem" EDIT: but of course I agree that skillful action is important as well - but usually most problems are mind-made and old karmic patterns

Woof Woof

nope not saying that - it doesn't exist on it's own - as a seperate static, singular thing, and also our experience is always filtered through past experience and our karmic propensities etc. we have a set of glasses on that we commonly share with other humans, but these glasses are again colored by our personal experiences so this energy exists conventionaly, you experience it others experience it - you can talk about it with them and it all makes sense - on this level of convention, it is incorrect from this pov to say "it does not exist" yet when one starts to look deeper - what are those appearances? how do they appear? to whom do they appear? etc. then the mere conventional level of reality is discovered to be not all there is and not how it is at all it is just made up by the mind and the mind itself is not a mind but clear light as the prajnaparamita sutras tell us

brother from a buddhist tantric POV you visualize all the time, and until you reach the bodhisattva grounds you are helpless, that means even if you do not want to visualize something you still do... you think there is a body, thats just your imagination you think there is energy, thats just your imagination also, everything we ever experience is our visualisation - till we truly get out of the box that is - till we see suchness directly so the tantric teachings use that fact and just turn it towards a more accurate mental image of reality - that everything is divine it is still a mental image as long as suchness is not realiyed also here divine means Union of emptiness and appearance - that is what is ment by Yidam or meditational deity its not a god out there but oyur own perception is actually divine perception if purified like william blake said in one of his poems (I think in his songs of innocence no?.. any blake fans?) when the doors of perception are purified all appears as it is - infinite btw tantric buddhism is much more deep and vast then what I said in this post, I just tried to make a point about visualisation I wish you a smooth awakening brother, with some knightly adventures

Hi there, my two cents: I do not know the kriya system very well, but as far as I can tell from friends that practice in the indian yogic system - it makes a lot of sense to have a teacher. I think the kriyas are traditionally thought after asana and pranayama has matured, no? so when do you know if it has matured or not for example? also as you work more directly with subtle energy currents of the body - that are connected with very primal creative forces of the psyche, it is important to have expert guidance, be connected to a living lineage, be psychologically healthy and prepared to face some strange unknown (possibly painful) Territory of your being etc. so far the inner yogas of tibetan buddhism (Anuyoga - tantras), for the most part are not accessible - and that is a very very good thing if you ask me, for they are so powerful that without proper preperation and supervision while you learn and practice them you probably go straight to the lemon factory to munch some psychopharmaca for breakfast lunch and dinner. I do not know if Kriya Yoga has the same dangers, but just to be sure I would rely on a teacher - check that teacher + the organisation, go there (as an observer) for some times, ask people - do research online and offline, no seriously do your research and if there are no major red flags it is save to start practicing in general. I think the lineage of Swami Yogananda is in pretty good hands no? I am not sure but I have a good feeling with his lineage and how it moved to the west (for the most part at least)

where is steve when you need him?

while translating madhyamika teachings for one of my teachers in McLoedGanj, I found this great picture of a horned rabbit - I felt I should print it - frame it and give it to rinpoche after the teachings are finished and proclaim with a triumphant smile on my lips "there I found a rabbit with a horn Rinpoche!" the next morning he explaiend how if a rabbit would grow horns - it wouldn't be a rabbit anymore I understood that Rinpoche would not like my offering, and gave up the idea of printing and framing jabberwooooooky

I was refferring to this quote of the diamond sutra exactly and as long as there is dharma to be slandered there is ignorance - most probably mine or mabye the ignorance of the one who thinks that the dharma was slandered (in any case ignorance is the root of samsara so it should be overcome) but then... if you think I slander or do not slander the dharma then I would question the one who likes to judge others of slandering or not slandering the dharma

I have a very strange relationships with horns of a rabbit and children of barren woman

*puts on his smarty pants if a rabbit would have horns - then it is no longer called a rabbit so rabbit's horns are still not an "object of knowledge" (shes bya) that could be perceived by a direct valid cognition *puts off his smarty pants - surprise