voidisyinyang

Yes last night on http://coasttocoastam.com James Nestor was playing various meditation synchronization tracks covered in his new book on "how to get high: without drugs." Anyway today I discovered this research on "spontaneous brain activity" versus brain synchronization -- and this has been a big issue for the various auditory brain technologies. Just like the use of magnets in qigong -- whenever there's a reliance on an external source then a disharmony can develop. Chunyi Lin states this as well -- how only the emptiness as pure consciousness can really heal and harmonize energy blockages. But these new studies on spontaneous activity indicate that what was previously considered white noise random energy is now actually memorized yet "anti-correlated" neuron synchronization. When we learn the neurons synchronize but then it's more efficient to decouple the connection -- like specialization in production, while still maintaining the subconscious "spontaneous activity." Then the various separate connections (really linked on a deeper level) are reintegrated as synchronization at the higher gamma frequency.... So the question remains -- to what extent can ANY brain synchronization enable the new growth of spontaneous brain activity. It seems that the brain gets bored fast and then you have to constantly reset the beats and frequency, etc. -- and some auditory tech claims to use a chaotic quasi-random entrainment that changes for you.... my own frequency-amplitude model relies on nonwestern logic so that ANY application of western philosophy (both frequency and amplitude rely on symmetry -- not complementary opposites) is just a more limited application. Sure science can be a tool and provide a rough model, but like any "rational" philosophy -- even religion -- it's still a closed system with "external" control (language or math or technology).... here's my blog post from http://naturalresonancerevolution.blogspot.com There's a new study out on "spontaneous brain activity" -- which apparently is NOT random white noise, as previously assumed to be the background brain activity -- yet is also constant even during sleep. An earlier study on "spontaneous brain activity" states it causes external physical errors -- so that this innate, seemingly causeless, neuron firing actually inhibits precision in intentional action. http://www.physorg.com/news174302671.html But the new study states that when a person does a task requiring two areas of the brain, at first the two areas are weakly linked, then they SYNCHRONIZED while learning occurs, then once the activity is memorized -- the two areas DE-LINK with a new "anti-correlation" of synchronization -- aka a new "spontaneous" activity. So that what had been considered random white noise and what was then discovered to be not random yet also not intentional -- is NOW discovered to make the brain function more efficiently overall by memorizing and then compartmentalizing the two synapses which have to be activated for a certain perceptional skill. It's FORDISM in the brain -- a la Taylor (and Lenin's embrace of Taylorism as well). It's more efficient to reduce a task down to its parts and then perform each part separately but as a mass production while a later, "higher level" (gamma wave) total brain synchronization "spontaneously" connects the two brain neurons. Here's the older "white noise" spontaneous brain activity research: Spontaneous brain activity causes 'unforced errors' * 16:31 09 October 2007 by Roxanne Khamsi (new Scientist) The reason why even professional basketball and soccer players sometimes miss an easy shot may be partly explained by spontaneous fluctuations of electrical activity within the brain, a study suggests. An experiment conducted by researchers at Washington University, in Missouri, US, found that fluctuations in brain activity caused volunteers to subconsciously exert slightly less physical force when pressing a button on cue. Crucially, this activity is independent of any external stimulus and does not appear related to attention or anticipation. The scientists involved say it is the first direct evidence that internal instabilities - so-called "spontaneous brain activity" - may play an important role in the variability of human behaviour. From the mid-1990s onwards, brain-scanning techniques have revealed variable brain activity that appears unrelated to external stimuli and occurs even when a person is asleep or anaesthetized. But just how such fluctuations in neuronal firings may influence physical behaviour has proven different to untangle. To explore the issue, Michael Fox at Washington University and colleagues designed an experiment that involved monitoring volunteers' brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they performed a simple finger-tapping task. Weaker response The 17 volunteers were asked to push a button with their right hand as soon as they saw an on-screen prompt and the timing and force of each button press were recorded. As expected, the brain scans revealed increased activity within the left motor cortex - the region associated with controlling movement of the right hand - shortly after each button-pushing prompt. Fox and colleagues also monitored spontaneous activity within the left motor cortex by analysing its "mirror image" in the right motor cortex. This allowed them to see how spontaneous brain activity affected each button press, independent of the "task-related" brain signals. The researchers found that volunteers pressed the button with about half the force, on average, if spontaneous activity occurred a few seconds before each prompt. Missed goals "This is the first clear evidence that [spontaneous brain activity] has some behavioural significance," says Rasmus Birn of the National Institute of Health in Maryland, US, who was not involved with the research. Fox admits that it remains unclear how spontaneous activity in the motor cortex might cause people to tap their fingers more gently, but speculates that it could be because the activity fools the brain into thinking the finger has already moved partly towards the button. He suggests that spontaneous brain activity may perhaps explain why people engaging in sports sometimes miss an apparently easy goal or basket, by altering the force with which they kick or throw a ball. However, Birn cautions that, "it remains to be seen whether this result holds for more complex cognitive tasks or other brain regions or networks". Journal reference: Neuron (DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2007.08.023)

Wudang -- Can you please clarify the status of Western meditators in China? For example I've read of Taoist Westerners in the U.S. who trained and ordained in Shanghai Taoist monasteries. But I could find no follow-up. I know other Westerners have posted here from China and continue to do so -- visiting and practicing in Taoist Monasteries. I assume you have to know Chinese and then there's visa limits, etc. How many Westerners approximately are in China for long-term meditation -- say beyond 3 months? What's the options for monasteries for Westerners in China if at all? And, as you've hinted, independent study there seems quite difficult. What happened to the American who had moved to China, was teaching English and then seeking to train Buddhists -- Westerners to come to China -- forgot his name but he seemed to have disappeared after posting regularly for several months. Thanks.

Again I appreciate the finely nuanced presentation of Buddhism yet how about the same for Advaita? If there are so many different interpretations of Buddhism with each person claiming they know the RIGHT one -- and this is definitely true as I've had many Buddhists very strongly (with righteous male anger) tell me that's NOT Buddhism, yet they contradict each other. And so it is the same in Advaita Vedanta -- different interpretations, etc. I can definitely have a better appreciation for the real differences between Advaita Vedanta and Theravada Buddhism but when it comes to Advaita and Mahayana mind yoga then the differences are extremely subtle. Of course for people to dismiss Master Nan, Huai-chin as a not real Buddhist is silly since he is a Buddhist professor and a Buddhist monk and he has the Buddhist canon MEMORIZED -- and most importantly because he took the monk vows he is not allowed to discuss the finer experiences of samadhi. Even more so Master Nan, Huai-chin states it would be impossible to put the real samadhi experiences into words yet without body transformation the real samadhi does not exist. His books are focused on exposing the "mind yoga" delusions that don't transform the body -- and again the full-lotus is the easiest way to demonstrate the body has been transformed. So all the talk and debate is fun but without full-lotus it is nothing. For real training there would not be time for left-brain dominant writing and reading on the internet. Chunyi Lin read the Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot and Chunyi Lin states that the Holographic Universe is an accurate portrayal of the samadhi perception. Yet Chunyi Lin says he doesn't have TIME to read as he's too busy healing and meditating. Also phone healings are MORE effective because there is less chance for ego to block the energy flow -- ego attachment due to PHOTOS or visual images, etc. The voice "embodies" the generative force or jing healing energy and so phone enables very efficient energy transmission. This is why radio remains such a popular medium whereas newspapers are dying off and most people don't read very seriously. NOT ENOUGH PICTURES. haha.

On Chinese recovery from death -- I happened to just re-watch 8 Diagram Pole Fighters -- considered by some to be the best martial arts movie. It's about recovery from death and the family survivors has one go insane and the other go to the monastery. Then I learned that the one to go insane actually died during filming in a car accident -- and so the acting in the film is a real reaction to death as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-Diagram_Pole_Fighter

This article on standing posture exercise to create "Whole Body Movement" calls it an INVERTED PYRAMID which is the opposite of the full-lotus pyramid.... and also that subconsciously standing is not motionless but a pendulum that increases in power as the nervous system has to constantly adjust to maintain balance.... http://getfitblog.biz/effects-of-whole-bod...tic-perception/

I can ANSWER This! haha. Chunyi Lin trained in standing meditation yang "thunder palms" for 2 hours a day nonstop, each day, for several weeks -- at Shaolin Temple I think. He teaches this "thunder palm" standing meditation in the Level 1 !! -- There's also the standing yin sword fingers AND the standing tree or pole position with hands focused around the lower tan tien. These standing exercises are also included in the moving standing exercises -- so like modules you take part of the moving exercise and turn it into a static standing meditation. Chunyi Lin states that at beginning there should be twice to three times more standing active exercise compared to sitting passive meditation. But as you move into FULL-LOTUS (not just half) then the ratio can be reversed. Chunyi Lin states 20 minutes of full-lotus is worth 4 hours of any other practice. Standing with knees bent and hands in yin-yang feedback for 20 minutes is one thing - sitting in full-lotus for 20 minutes is another. It depends on how "steep" the full-lotus is -- if the ankles are fully on the thighs -- with the feet facing up and beyond the thighs -- just like with standing meditation the more bent your knees are the "steeper" or stronger the amplitude of the practice. The standing active exercise activates the chi -- "cultivating" it into the body so that the chi can be emitted from the hands -- while the passive sitting meditation builds up the chi. That's why at the end of sitting Yan Xin meditation the chi must be CULTIVATED by active exercises or else the harvest of chi is not used -- not stored in the body -- and just gets "lost" -- transmitted back out of the body. It's good, better and best since the harmonic resonance to create free energy from consciousness enables healing others as you heal yourself as well. Of course the blockages of emotion, nutrition and environment can be very deep since the West is the opposite of the natural tai-chi healing....

Here's more on Robert Monroe and astral travel -- holosync was developed by Monroe and is used at his Institute for astral travel and remote viewing. http://www.manannan.net/occult/monroe.html http://www.centerpointe.com/articles/articles_research.php

I tested out Holosync maybe 6 months ago -- my coworker copied the c.d. as he was using it. Immediately I experienced the brain synchronization but the power was low. In other words just by using my own conscious focus -- "flexing the pineal gland" as I call it -- I could over-ride the Holosync power. Still for a beginner it would be excellent and the whole "astral travel" claims of holosync and remote viewing -- well that's in a special training environment after weeks, even years of practice, etc. So how much is just the holosync and how much is the actual concentration skills from practice -- my guess is more of the latter. Robert Monroe states that when he did his astral travel OBE he had to focus on his STOMACH to build up the energy. Anyone not familiar with the lower tan tien and jing would not even realize the central importance of Monroe relying on the stomach -- he calls it something like "rolling" out of his body. So he had to build up that jing energy probably just from intense mental curiosity about spirituality, etc.

Also Nityananda's lineage of advaita is part of the BHAKTI tradition of singing and using emotion -- in contrast to the JHANA mind yoga tradition of logical inference. I didn't realize this but it may explain why the "tantric" tradition of "Nityananda advaita" (what I googled) is what enables you to be transferred to Buddhism with its tantric emphasis as well. http://books.google.com/books?id=pOUdVTjZF...ita&f=false Here's an academic book discussing the classic Advaita (name of an Advaita yogi) versus Nityananda tantric advaita -- the Advaita RETURNED TO THE ORTHODOX BRAHMIN MONASTERY and this was criticized by Nityananda as not real advaita since it is dependent on caste hierarchy, etc. SEE PAGE 89.

Seth -- thanks for sharing this. Chunyi Lin says that there's no reason to be sad about death yet obviously that is a rare approach. As you seem to know the Tibetan monks see if the head or feet get cold last -- and if the head stays warm longest then the person is going to heaven. Also that death is a great opportunity for enlightenment so your presence optimized this for your father. Chunyi Lin focuses on us having a better life in our next rebirth -- he's very serious about this and states he can read our past lives but rarely tells us unless it's pertinent to healing in this life. I read recently that DMT release sky-rockets at death, like at birth as well. On cable they had a show about people coming back from the dead and their experiences on the other side. Some saw their future, others felt an immense blissful presence -- saw bright light -- but beyond that experienced just pure awareness with no light. Others experienced the OBE where they could hear their family talking about them and see the medical room, verified after they returned to the body. I've had some of these experiences already -- seeing my future 3 years in advance, having the full-life "review" as a vision I couldn't stop but that explained things psychologically for me -- seeing light and dead spirits after I did an 8 day energy feast on just half glass of water, having some astral travel experiences as well and also the DMT release from ayahuasca analog -- the kundalini release like at death. The people who came back from the dead wished they could return to the spirit world -- so much better than suffering in the physical body. But their spirit was not ready to die yet while other dead spirits seek the help of masters so that their emotional trauma can be resolved and the return to pure consciousness can occur. Ghost pollution is a way more real phenomenon than recognized in the West -- Chunyi Lin says it takes him several sessions to clear the ghost pollution from a room. Master Ni, Huang-chi says ghost pollution is very real in the cities. Yet only if we have weak physical energy are we susceptible to the ghost pollution directly -- weak electromagnetic physical essence energy -- the chi. That's why young females going through hormonal transformation with menstruation kicking in can become energy sources for ghosts, thereby causing poltergeists, etc. In this sense modern humans are already "possessed" by the dead -- by ghosts in the lower chakras -- and in this sense modern humans, cut off from the right brain spiritual energy, are the walking UnDead as well. So death is just a transformation, just as deep dreamless sleep every night is a type of death. Still I've had so many relatives die from cancer, etc. at relatively young age that I began to really ponder and wonder what death was about. I'm glad to see you have done the same about death and you were able to help your father. Chunyi Lin says that sometimes he gets clients whom he can not heal in the body but he can make sure they have a safe, peaceful transition in death. And so you have provided this wonderful gift for your dad as well.

I have reread this whole thread, including going to David Verdesi's website promoting his upcoming Nov NY seminar. Yes $200 a day is about the standard cost for a qigong chi initiation training. I can attest that this "electrical" transmission is real -- I've done it myself. But much more powerful is the LASER transmission which is done by Chunyi Lin and now Jim Nance through http://springforestqigong.com -- they charge about the same price $200 a day or $100 for one healing, even through the phone. As for the alleged sex obsession of Verdesi - I had not read this before but it makes sense since the secret of qigong power is from taking in female sex energy! The female sex energy or jing or N/um (Bushmen) is also from animals -- hence the bull energy transmission. It's the lower body energy found even in males.... To consistently transmit electromagnetic energy by a European is very very rare and so I can understand Verdesi wanting to charge the "going" rate in the Western yoga-qigong spiritual transmission circuit. In fact I've argued how this energy is PART of the late-capitalist "commodity fetish" trajectory of tantric technology, as I call it in my http://naturalresonancerevolution.blogspot.com research. As for qi "not being dangerous" compared to Western electricity: John Chang was tested with inconclusive results and I've realized this is because chi, as per Dr. Mae-Wan Ho's biophoton Taoist quantum research -- is from POSITIVE IONS as protons -- instead of Western electricity from negative ions, electrons. Still Chi can very much HARM people -- I personally, accidentally, pulled the spirit out of the top of the head of an old lady -- without touching her -- she immediately bawled non-stop for at least 15 minutes. Even Yan Xin talks about "accidentally" pulling down the electricity from a power line in order to restart a dead car yet the electricity accidentally burned out the car engine (see Professor William Tiller's qigong book) -- Then Yan Xin states that any qi power "accidental" damage can be reversed since it is consciously projected through yi or intention. Verdesi's new focus on nondual consciousness as enlightenment is a good thing. People ask -- but can he sit in full-lotus? John Chang relies on full-lotus as does Chunyi Lin and Jim Nance -- in fact REAL qigong masters can sit in full-lotus as long as they want. That's a very simple way to tell if someone is real -- yet it's not necessary as well. Still the "technique" of full-lotus is completely underestimated in WESTERN investigation into nonwestern shamanic paranormal powers and meditation, etc. There is a direct connection between full-lotus power and TAKING IN FEMALE SEX ENERGY as well. I can sit in full-lotus for hours on end as long as there are females around -- so again Verdesi's sex obsession actually CONFIRMS his power abilities. But then there's no need to "teach" the full-lotus -- the simplest is the most powerful as Chunyi Lin states -- and again Chunyi Lin does Mayo Clinic (top Western hospital) healing and coauthors Mayo Clinic Dr. Nisha Manek's chapter on qigong for a Mayo Clinic textbook. So these are not "fake" qigong masters -- is Verdesi the FIRST Euro qigong master? My take is that while he can transmit electromagnetic CHI that's not the same as SHEN holographic laser transmission -- and while Tai-Chi masters rely on CHI (electromagnetic) real qigong masters rely on spirit or shen laser holographic transmission. That is a long-distance transmission as much as physical contact tranmission -- the shen is from having the third eye FULLY OPEN. Is Veredesi's electromagnetic transmission ability a true pioneering breakthrough? Yes I think so -- yet again he's not a qigong master, unlike Jim Nance, the first AFRICAN-american qigong master. So these teachings and abilities are all relative and rely on energy transmissions, infusions, etc. -- as has been pointed out via Alexandra David-Neel's book on Tibet -- there are no "magic" powers. The qigong energy is a transduction of electrochemical female jing into more intense electromagnetic male chi and then laser holographic shen spirit energy (returning back to "prenatal vitality" as female jing) but all three resonate from the nondual consciousness beyond energy-matter and space-time and the EGO of spiritual powers. That's why the true nondual teaching is the most difficult -- and it is a beyond heart-death attainment -- yet "complete" enlightenment is permanent emptiness with each breath and thought -- permanent nirvikalpa samadhi. That was achieved by Ramana Maharshi and his student Poonjaji for example -- it's beyond all the spiritual powers of creating other physical bodies, etc. Complete enlightenment is actually outside the Taoist tradition in the sense that the Taoists and Buddhists focus on spiritual powers of enlightenment -- astral travel, healing, etc. While "complete enlightenment" is a left-brain linear goal to maintain emptiness without power -- beyond power -- going deeper and deeper into the heart via logical inference of the source of the ego, the source of the I-thought. It's not the "neti, neti" of Buddhism nor the visualization alchemy of Taoism -- and since "complete enlightenment" relies on left-brain mind yoga as the "direct path" it's also dependent on misogyny of females, to make sure the male sex energy is sublimated, etc. Taoist yoga enables complete enlightenment as the FINAL stage of total body alchemical power transformation -- but the teaching claims this is the "immortal" spirit body -- it's not. It returns back to "eternal nature" -- the start and end of alchemical as pure awareness. This is hinted at in the book Taoist Yoga where the student in the beginning and end refers to "eternal nature" while the teacher dismisses it and focuses on the build-up of laser holographic shen through body power. So none of these practices are totally right or wrong but again the Taoist and Indian yoga teachings now parallel and merge with the late-capitalist commodity fetish of "sex sells" -- the Protestant Work Ethic of sublimated sex energy for more profits has now escalated into right-brain religious paranormal powers through yoga, etc. Is it good or bad? Neither -- because the only non-hypocritical truth is the actual nondual formless reality where even the whole universe is an illusion, yet is only achieved again by physically transcending death, permanently. It's a VERY rare state achieved by maybe 6 people on earth at any one time. It's based on a very abstract logic beyond emotion -- beyond western logic -- yet truly logical, only through inference on the source of the I-thought.

Right on -- last night I watched a series of short youtube vids by a Chinese Englishing-speak monk who practiced in Burma and Cambodia I think. Anyway he was doing MIND YOGA and complained about how the cell phone microwave tower by his monastery had given him headaches, body pain stress, indigestion, etc. He then tried qigong with no results. Finally he got the mercury removed from his mouth (something I did as well) and immediately he felt better. Still though while he said he's had some "experiences" the power of his concentration has been radically limited due to the lack of lower body transduction -- the mind on its own is quite weak and just sitting with legs cross or legs Burmese style does not resonate the life-force energy for healing. His said his Theravada monk teachers considered his whole health obsession as just a mental blockage distraction against any meditation process -- they didn't want to deal with it and got mad at him. Still the practice of qigong and other special diets, etc. was allowed but had to be done in private by the monk. If you want further discussion of my research more in detail my blog is http://naturalresonancerevolution.blogspot.com -- although my research discussion is scattered around the internet as articles and interviews based on peer criticism and dialog. It's all free fun for me but now people want to give me money so that my practice gets better. haha. Can I be commodified? haha Turned into a spiritual worker -- that's one of the big issues in Burma. Previously the monasteries were state-funded and the focus was on serious mind yoga meditation for body transformation. But as the Burmese masses become more liberal via the West, fighting off colonialism, wanting more democracy -- the Burmese lay-community took greater control of the monasteries. The state funding was lost and now the monks are required to focus on scholarly education of the masses while getting fed by the masses, etc. A similar debate about political control and the type of yoga practiced has occurred in Thailand -- forest monks are "power" monks doing full-lotus but then ironically get more state support since the elite want the power.... Yet the indigenous cultures in Southeast Asia are still in struggle against Buddhism used as imperialist assimilation -- and the West meanwhile has more success with the CIA Christian evangelical assimilation of the "hill tribes," -- all in the vortex of ecological and mass cultural genocide, etc.

Excellent! Bradford Keeney was a professor in my home-town and he was focused on Gregory Bateson, similar to my masters thesis http://nonduality.com/hempel.htm "epicenters of justice" link. Keeney's website has been upgraded: http://shakingmedicine.com/teaching/the-or...s-of-spirit.php He says the "shaking" COMES FROM THE N/om -- the jing kundalini -- but also the shaking activates the n/om plus abdominal breathing is the secret to transmit and exorcise the spirit energy blockages into and out of the body.... Keeney, like myself, emphasizes music over words and he says the Bushmen state we all become "spiritual idiots" after the healing trance dance ritual is over..... This little doc is awesome -- "hugs the heart" -- tears of joy. Lots of Bushmen healing footage. http://shakingmedicine.com/bradford-keeney/documentary.php This is a truly amazing new "declaration" from the Bushmen healers which corrects information I had also read from anthropologists and passed along online... http://shakingmedicine.com/bushmen/declaration.php

Cambodia's "magic monk" blends Brahminism with Theraveda and indigenous magic....

Vaj what you say is true and certainly the full-lotus is not necessary but again Chunyi Lin states 20 minutes of full-lotus is worth 4 hours of any other practice. Vaj -- isn't is possible that you're just reacting defensively? Master Nan, Huai-chin also states that any of the meditative astral realms can be experienced spontaneously but he differentiates this from "stabilization" of such a level. The mind yoga -- be it Tibetan or Jnana of India or Theravada, etc. -- certainly enables to reach the level of Ramana Maharshi but it's still dependent on sublimated sex energy! Vivekananda stated that spirituality is just sublimated sex energy and Master Nan, Huai-chin states you can NOT be both materialist and spiritual at the same time. Tantra is the attempt to do this but it's usually the "poor man's" version of spirituality relying on alcohol and garlic and still practicing physical sex -- when "real" tantra is not physical sex, etc. Again these differences can be transcended but to rely on "mind yoga" requires separation from female "contamination" -- there's a lot of "fake" white male spiritualists who use Eastern spirituality just to get more female sex! Crowley was the epitome of this fakeness while Gurdjieff called him on it yet he too "initiated" females through sex. Still there's a real difference between sucking off female energy for male ejaculation and sublimated female sex energy so the pineal gland shoots it back to the female now as electromagnetic laser healing energy. Most modern males are controlled by the "kundabuffer" -- the small of the back chakra. The full-lotus opens this up and demonstrates it is open. I can sit in full-lotus for hours IF there are females around because that ensures the continued into of what the Bushmen call "N/um" and the Taoists call "jing" -- yet so much of mind yoga pretends this sex magic isn't part of spirituality. In fact the mind yoga depends on stating females can't be nuns -- can't interact with the male monks -- have to hide in their houses, etc. So yeah you can achieve the same in mind yoga IF there is separation from female "contamination" -- as the Brahmin priests had to do a 3 day "purification" ritual just for having visual contact with a female. This was carried into the West via the Greek philosophers requiring females to be locked into their houses while the Greek males sucked off the boys to get more jing energy. Sad but true -- and then Professor David F. Noble's "World Without Women" book describes how the all male misogynist monasteries led to the rise of science, etc. Not that there wasn't a tantric techno-feminist angle on this with elite females supporting the new imperial technological prowess of their "men" fueled by the separation from females so the males can focus on developing left-brain mind power for weapons, science, etc. So the white male mind yoga spiritual "what is enlightenment" scene is really in line with modern techno-fetish "geeks rule the world" Missile Envy spirituality of Western science. This started with the Brahmin caste system and the Buddhists were and continue to be an IMPERIALIST force, converting matrifocal indigenous tribes to be in line with the tantric King of whatever Buddhist country. This continues in Burma and Thailand and the war in Sri Lanka, etc. To claim Buddhists are peaceful is parallel to Hitler being a vegetarian and the Dalai Lama working with the Nazis and CIA. Not that Communism is any better but the West is a continuation of the tantric commodity fetish mass ritual sacrifice spirituality. Even standardized money, original with gold as solar and silver as lunar, became a "divide and average" value with the argument it enabled prostitutes to now buy their freedom. What used to be the sacred sex of tantric temples becomes the new standardized employment of female sex for money as feminist liberation! This transition represented the cross over from right-brain dominant Dravidian tantra to left-brain dominant Brahmin-Buddhist-Zoroastrian ritual priesthood, the leading to Plato's merger of Babylonian and Indian ritual priest sacrifice geometry as spiritual eugenics. The Bushmen culture is the original tantric shamanism -- relying on music and trance dance and matrifocal dominance yet even then it was an adaptation by humans against famine conditions. Earlier still is the bonobo males -- peaceful and constantly having sex yet RARELY ejaculating! The female bonobos are in charge, in direct contrast to Chimpanzees practicing female exogamy. The Bushmen culture is more like bonobos while "modern" humans are chimpanzees.

I "seem" to... haha! I guess we all "seem" to -- Ramana Maharshi states that after eternal liberation with each breath and thought there is an automatic return to the source of his body, through the heart-chakra - beyond death. So it remains a "process" -- a constant process -- but there's a difference between it being permanently post-death beyond the heart instead of the astral realm light-vision process. The empty awareness beyond the heart is like the deep sleep state but creates light and spiritual healing on its own. Vaj -- have you read David Godman's 3 vol. biography of Ramana Maharshi's lineage master -- H.W.L. Poonja. It's called "Nothing Ever Happened" -- an excellent book of "all" the spiritual powers -- yet often he wasn't "aware" that he was creating multiple physical bodies, etc. In other words the pure consciousness enables his subconscious desires to be fulfilled even though it's miraculous AND his left-brain awareness does not know. So it's like deep sleep yet the opposite since the level of awareness is beyond the physical body, through the heart, thereby enabling all the yogic spiritual powers which happen as a projection of the body's astral and jing energy. Vaj -- Have you read "Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality" trans. by Charles Luk? When I first discovered this website forum I was promoted that book then learned that the book was considered TOO DANGEROUS to read if you don't have a direct energy master to guide you. I got to about chapter 10 in the practice of that book and then the energy was just too powerful for modern mundane society -- and that was almost 10 years ago now! haha. But I see no reason why people shouldn't read or study that book, especially in the interest of Taoism. There seems to be more and more "Buddhist" posters on this website -- maybe it's from the more syncretic Taoist-Buddhist tradition of China (and even Tibet). Anyway I also recommend Master Nan, Huai-chin's Ch'an books yet apparently they're now out of print. I gave my copies away -- a few times! Now the books sell for $100 or something even though they're cheap paperbook publications. haha. Chunyi Lin, the Taoist-Buddhist qigong master healer for the Mayo Clinic http://springforestqigong.com says if you want to see if someone is a real master just see how long they can sit in full-lotus. Easy and verifiable without relying on the eternal conceptual debates online. So myself included -- all of us online posters are not "real" practitioners or meditators no matter what "school" or philosophy we choose to align with. I read several places stating that only AFTER nirvikalpa samadhi does true meditation even start -- yet nirvikalpa samadhi is an extremely rare state to achieve. Master Nan, Huai-chin exposes how the mind yoga practices are mislead because only with body transformation (again demonstrated through full-lotus) is nirvikalpa samadhi obtainable. Even then Master Nan, Huai-chin states that most practitioners "fall back into worldliness" due to "heroic overexuberance" and that was certainly the case with me.

Totally -- left-brain dominance of writing on the internet goes against the right-brain dominance of Taoist qigong training. That African shaman healer Soamle -- sp? -- he talks about the elders in his tribe in Mali? -- anyway how literacy competes with shamanism. The question about "top energy levels" -- I assumed it referred to previous qigong levels not previous age levels. I mean if you develop telekinesis, telepathy, etc. then that's obviously beyond any previous age level. But after "falling back into mundane reality" from doing healing, etc. I've still been able to maintain energy level that is comparable to at least my early 20s if not teens. It's impossible to compare as now there is permanent magnetic brain bliss whereas I could only subconsciously tap into that energy to not nearly the same level as a teenager -- tied up into romantic love controlled by hormones, etc. If the love is pure then the electromagnetic telepathy -- precognition will develop on its own without necessarily having practiced yoga, etc. But to consciously develop and maintain the training then transmissions from an energy master (a truly rare treasure) makes all the difference. I got that from http://springforestqigong.com and you can too via phone healings, etc. Still the modern mundane world goes completely against the qigong training and after I did my 8 day fast on half glass water and tons of qigong -- I've since discovered that pure consciousness, post-death, is beyond good and bad and now I've been eating meat, dumpster-diving, eating tons of garlic -- it's been all out of balance without the same electromagnetic energy but the 3rd Eye opening has remained unchanged. haha. The energy is taken in from the yin sources -- electrochemical life force sex energy. Mantak Chia talks about this -- how more and more internal orgasms are necessary to build up the 3rd eye energy. So when it's asked what "my" energy levels are -- the practice relies on the energy constantly being transformed, transmitted, etc. So what energy is really "mine?" haha.

I ate meat so now I have to drink MORE alcohol to kill off the bacteria. Still it's freezing weather in Minnesota -- SNOW already! My mom made scrumptious meat and I wanted it -- but there you go -- I can't sit in full-lotus because my pineal gland would off-gas too much shit smell from the vagus nerve transducing anaerobic bacteria. Diet is so crucial to full-lotus energy healing -- and truly alcohol dulls the mind -- it might relax the body -- even coffee is MORE toxic than alcohol from the college chemistry textbook I have -- but alcohol poisoning shuts down the chakras. Most monks these days practice "mind yoga" -- and Vaj it appears that's your tradition as well with the alcohol of the Dgozchen -- I've read it's not considered immoral just "polluting" of the body. So it is and yet monks are under severe pressure to drink as it's the sociable thing to do and the monk is considered snobbish -- to Brahmin sankritized -- for rejecting beer, etc. At least that's what an anthropologist discovered in the Nepal Buddhist tradition.

I'm drinking alcohol right now so I feel justified posting on this thread. I actually despise booze, always have, despite that initial blissful relaxation feeling, but I'm at my parents' where garlic (antiseptic) is the devil incarnate while booze and coffee at the mainstay. Yesterday I indulged in the sugar cereal I bought for my nephew which is his favorite yet he complains about my shit smell, not knowing that his favorite cereal is the cause. And so I have alcohol to kill have that internal tingling sensation of the vagus nerve-heart chakra anaerobic bacteria getting transduced up into the third eye. But here's a good alcohol Taoist yoga story -- Chunyi Lin, http://springforestqigong.com qigong master doesn't drink but in China a "real" man drinks. So the local town drunk challenged Chunyi Lin -- each had 6 bottles of wine in front of them and whomever lasted longest would be the winner. So Chunyi Lin just "transferred" the wine alcohol content to the drunk's 6 bottles, thereby rendering his wine to be water (the reverse of Jesus story). You can imagine the results. That's the REAL use of alcohol in Taoism but for us "modern" diet victims, well.... a lot of evil SPIRITS still have to be exorcised and do two wrongs make a right? Anyone? Now to eat meat and veggies.....

Vaj -- your explanation of the subtle yet crucial difference between Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta is well-written and I am already very familiar with the point you raise. Again I have to emphasize that the difference you describe is not necessarily as clear-cut as imagined. For example in Advaita, as taught by Ramana Maharshi, it's emphasized that the Practice Is the Goal -- so at first you repeat I-I-I-I over and over but then the I-thought becomes focused and then you logically infer the source of the I-thought which then creates light. I like to think of this process of the practice as the goal as LISTENING to the source of the I-thought but Ramana Maharshi states very clearly as long as thoughts arise then the practice must continue until: THE MIND IS KILLED. This is a physical post-death experience with the mind originating in the heart -- Ramana Maharshi's heart stopped for over 10 minutes after he did 9 years of vichara (self-enquiry) -- and only then did he achieve eternal liberation, or what he called "cutting the knot." Even his "followers" don't READ Ramana Maharshi's words -- people are not that literary and usually have herd mentality because we're social animals. So they "join" and "follow" but I studied Ramana Maharshi's books, including rare books from his ashram that are in the South Asian Ames Library at the U of MN. In fact one of these books had significant shakti to it! Anyway my point is that the PROCESS of vichara is actually infinite (much like the Buddhist practice of interdependent origination) -- the followers claim that sahaja samadhi was achieved by Ramana Maharshi when he first imagined death and got nirvikalpa samadhi at age 16. But Ramana Maharshi states that most yogis get fixated on the astral realms without continuing to focus on the nondual source of reality -- through more and more nirvikalpa samadhi from logically inferring the source of the I-thought. Just to be more specific another famous advaita teacher (who I believe was fake) stated to focus on "I AM" yet Ramana Maharshi stated -- NO -- it's just the SOURCE of the I-thought. So at first you repeat I-I-I but NOT even "I Am." The process of listening though is impersonal -- the vichara as logical inference -- and it is infinite as a PROCESS (again like Buddhism), only the linear logical goal is the post-death "cutting of the knot." After that is achieved (which is very very rare to do via just self-enquiry) the mind is permanently killed (Ramana Maharshi uses this "kill the mind" extreme language) and the sahaja samadhi is permanent. That's considered complete enlightenment versus self-realization and is the product of ONLY practicing vichara of the source of the I-thought. This is where Buddhism disagrees with Advaita stating in Buddhism that the I-thought is just one concept among infinite concepts and that the truth is experiential through interdependent origination of emptiness. Buddhism is very much a reaction against the Brahmin vedic teachings (which falsely reified the concept of the I-thought as a caste religion without the actual spiritual achievements) but at the same time the advaita of Buddhism is still based on the Vedic teachings -- it's an unorthodox extension. Master Nan, Huai-chin, for example, argues that it's relatively easy to achieve the "eternal liberation" of Advaita (or as Buddhists state the Arhants) because in Mahayana that means just emptying out the 7th Level of Consciousness -- the ego -- beyond the 6th level of conceptual consciousness. But Master Nan, Huai-chin says that this 7th level of consciousness emptied out into pure awareness is not enough because when the body gets sick near death then the mind and the breath will not be able to transcend the body via the heart -- and the final thought and breath will end in unawareness -- in ignorance as dark emptiness, instead of light awareness from resonance with empty awareness. But again Master Nan, Haui-chin, while advocating vichara or "who am I?" as one Ch'an meditation practice, does not detail that this investigation must continued to be pursued PAST death -- thereby transcending the very physical limitation he argues limits the emptying out of the 7th level of consciousness. I figured out in my research that vichara or left-brain logical inference of the source of the I-thought relies on the left-brain vagus nerve which connects directly to the heart chakra. Meanwhile right-brain visualization of light meditation, which is by far the usual nonwestern meditation, relies on the right-brain vagus nerve that connects to the lower body. This is why Advaita Vedanta is called the "direct path" -- because it appears to bypass the need to heal or resonate the lower body chakras. Instead of "supreme complete enlightenment" of Ch'an Buddhism and Taoism (where there is an immortal body and mind transformation into spirit-light) the Advaita Vedantins state there is no need to create a diamond or rainbow immortal body. Again once death is transcended through the "direct path" of the left-brain vagus nerve connecting to the right-side of the heart, the body is left to play out its karmic path in this lifetime, without further accumulation of karma. The problem with the Advaita model is that it still relies on sublimation of sex energy, only through the left-brain logical inference as indirectly repressing female sex energy, instead of right-brain conscious sublimation and purification (ionization) of sex energy as tantra. So the Brahmin mind yoga jnana tradition is dependent on no contact with females since there is no reliance on the full-lotus to sublimate the lower body -- and therefore there has to be a strict caste system based on the left-brain dominant ritual priesthood mind yogis. This ritual priesthood then developed into the Western religious priesthood and then into science because along with left-brain ritual priesthood sacrifice religion co-evolved geometric-based technology for imperial expansion. Buddhism is then often considered part of the earlier matrifocal tantric Dravidian culture before the Aryan invasion but Theravada Buddhism, as I stated, emphasizes the rational left-brain analysis of insight -- which was called Neti, Neti in the Brahmin tradition. Neither this nor that. Whereas Advaita states it IS this awareness as logical inference -- the West is actually more Buddhist since "proof by contradiction" axiomatic logic, starting with the Pythagorean Theorem, is also part of the "Neti, Neti" logic that Buddhism relies on. Again Advaita emphasizes that ONLY through logical inference as a positive embrace of nondual awareness is the linear goal achieved of post-death pure consciousness via the left-brain, right side of the heart connection. Again I discovered that this is due to relying on the left-brain vagus nerve going to the heart, instead of the right-brain vagus nerve connecting to the life-force lower body via the full-lotus tantra practice. So which Buddhism came first -- the tantra nondualism practice or the left-brain "insight" vipassana analysis of Theravada or the right-brain light-visualization of the forest monks -- in relation to the Vedic tradition? Because of the many traditions of Buddhism it really is an extension of the many traditions of what is now called Hinduism -- the earlier Vedic philosophies. As I stated the Burmese claim that Burmans as an ethnic group is derived from Brahmins. While Buddhism is often considered Dravidian (pre-Aryan) again the Theravada tradition was the more rational Brahmin extension against the Tantra Dravidian tradition and therefore the Burmese Theravada consider themselves to be associated with the earlier Brahmin. My point that I've repeated over and over is which is right? These all overlap in the East -- there is still a very real tension between "forest monks" doing "power" meditation via full-lotus fasting and city monks doing scholarly mind yoga. That's the Theravada difference of Advaita mind yoga versus tantra full-lotus and it has very real political implications with the military elite wanting the power of the forest monks -- be it in Thailand or Burma, etc. Sri Lanka is even more pronounced with militant Buddhists against militant Hindus, etc. But the same difference happens in Mahayana in Tibet and Ladakh, etc. The Dalai Lama Gelupa sect is actually a scholarly mind yoga tradition with emphasis on nondual mahamudra practice but if you study the Tibetan tradition, the "real" yogis LEAVE the monastery to do tantric cave meditation, relying on tummo, taking next to no food. These are the real "heroes" of the Tibetan-Ladakhi tradition because in such a cold climate with short growing season those who figured out how to live without food were a great asset for the rest of the society. And so Milarepa is actually part of this tantric cave meditation tradition of full-lotus tummo but in reality such monks are next to non-existent today in India, Ladakh-Tibet, etc. Chunyi Lin, as a Taoist-Buddhist Chinese full-lotus master, did his cave meditation at the mountain considered to be the origin of Lao Tzu Taoism. In fact he stated that he has a PHYSICAL encounter with the founder of Taoism -- yet Chunyi Lin promotes Buddhist heart sutra, etc. So is he not really Buddhist or really Taoist? He joked with me that the ONLY thing he hasn't done is KILLED HIMSELF a la the Advaita Ramana Maharshi practice which again is even denied by his followers. What philosophy can promote itself stating our leader had to stop his heart for over 10 minutes in order to achieve eternal liberation and that is our goal? Again Ramana Maharshi emphasized that the typical yogi gets lost in the astral realms after achieving the first levels of nirvikalpa samadhi. In fact when I "achieved cessation" as it's called in Theravada -- when I did an 8 day fast on just half glass of water and my skull cracked open and my body breathed with electromagnetic energy and the ambrosia flowed down, so I wasn't hungry nor thirsty, and I saw dead spirits and I experienced the source of my mind-body as pure empty awareness -- the question for me remained: Now what? Where do I go? What's the point of astral travel? I mean this is serious stuff and it seemed strange to not have a goal in mind -- but then that's my left-brain dominant Western logic, again as an extension of the Advaita tradition. As you've stated the Buddhist tradition is different -- but I would argue it is an extension of the "Neti, Neti" -- "neither this, nor that" philosophy in the Vedas. Advaita Vedanta states that "neti, Neti" does not achieve eternal liberation -- but ONLY logical inference of the I-thought achieves eternal liberation because no matter what astral realm of insight analysis achieved (rational logic applied to light astral experience) there is still the sense of the ego based on the concept of the I-thought. There is still an "object" of ego focus to the interdependent origination. My own take on this is to use music (again LISTENING) as the model for reality -- nonwestern music relying on complementary opposites. But I won't go into details about that since I've had several articles published online stating my case, etc. Thanks for sharing.

See now we got somewhere because the word "awareness" typically applies to view as path -- wisdom as insight analysis in Buddhism but Master Nan, Huai-chin uses "awareness" to refer to advaita pure consciousness in the same sense as Ramana Maharshi. Poonjaji states that Zen Buddhism is the same as Advaita Vedanta but his teacher Ramana Maharshi states that advaita is NOT emptiness and therefore not Buddhism. Who is right and wrong? Thanks for further clarifying YOUR NEED to have the correct path and view. I would only add that the prerational/transrational angle you have embraced comes from Ken Wilber and I, myself, critique and disagree with Ken Wilber in my 2001 masters thesis, "Epicenters of Justice" linked at http://nonduality.com/hempel.htm. I think Ken Wilber is racist with his prerational modeled as the infantile on the individual level -- dismissing indigenous cultures as somehow less sophisticated, despite the vast "indigenous technical knowledge" for local ecological culture. In contrast I would recommend biologist/anthropologist Lyall Watson's take on indigenous shamanism or Dr. Vandana Shiva or Winona LaDuke but NOT the prerational/transrational white male bald spiritual enlightenment schtick. And yes I did have my head shaved before I went into the Theravada monastery. We just got our FIRST SNOW here in Minnesota and I've been wearing a hat even inside the house for the past couple weeks. Still my relatives go to play soccer today as their "prerational" schtick and I'm hoping to go buy food for them as my "transrational" schtick. What's more important or spiritual? I don't know but when the little ones complain there's no food I tend to think it's more important than soccer. Of course I have food stamps right now and plan to move in with my parents today but in my current "prerational" household one never knows what kind of patriarchial lower chakra control device will kick in to subvert my "transrational" plan for spiritual escape. And yet the "prerational" culture is in fact a VICTIM -- a byproduct of the "transrational" -- the spiritual evolution by genocide in the West. Ken Wilber's wife was not healed by his white male spirituality -- just like Ram Dass' chanting didn't prevent his stroke. Which brings me back to the full-lotus as transcending the whole conceptual realm itself -- the white male Western Buddhism scene does not rely on the full-lotus.