senseless virtue

Yes. It is well known in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, and also in Guru Rinpoche's teachings in particular, that nothing exists outside of your own mind. Through enlightening practice you will discover this experimentally, verify that there was no real separation between any being, and realize the actual non-duality of mind beyond words. Without any reference to energy, it's about habitually recalling your original nature and getting used to it. Really simple. The entire traditions of guruyoga and deity yoga are based on direct introduction to the original nature of mind which is as profound state being as it gets. There are instructions, but the part of the student is really only about opening up and being receptive to blessings and higher awareness.

Yesterday my teacher taught that all the Enlightened beings already exist in our mindstreams. It is our habitual patterns or karmic energies that create a disconnection and an inability to experience that reality. Guruyoga, deity yoga, and some spontaneous forms of temple dance are examples of how to get attuned to their pure energies. We each have our unique paths of least resistance and resonate more with some teachings and teachers than with others. From dualistic perspective it's alright to speak of merging and transmissions because your karmic ordinary mind subsides. In the absolute sense we never assume any other role than abiding in dharmakaya, so the roles, masks, and personalities of Buddhas are just different flavors for getting there.

The Tibetan Buddhist and tantric explanation of mantras is that if you chant mantras related to Buddhas or Enlightened beings, you are effectively transforming karma instead of just cultivating the ordinary and coarse respitory energy that has limited benefits. Tantra is all about transforming the impure mind to pure. I'll add a closing thought. Chanting mantras makes you a more efficient yogi because you are not limited to specific static or dynamic posture sequences. You can carry on chanting aloud or silently in your daily life and still get extra benefit.

Guru Siyag claims to be the next prophet. Guru Siyag's justification that he is the next prophet, the Comforter. Apparently one of his disciples published news in here and other places stating that Guru Siyag had predicted World War 3 for 2011 and encouraged his devotees to get politically involved in Indian elections in 2009. Are you kidding me? Is anyone falling for another would-be prophet and ludicrous apocalyptic doom seer? If you get a shaktipat from a person like that, you do so at your own peril. Even if anyone gets some benefit from this practice, something is seriously wrong in the context the shaktipat is offered. You cannot be sure that there is nothing negative transmitting to you. My advice to everyone wanting to be absolutely safe is to get pure initiations and shaktipats only from Enlightened beings, and not samsaric beings who are still dealing with their delusions and impure spirit.

I confess everything. I guess it's time for me to gather my things, mount the clown car, and pedal back to the freak circus then. The name of the circus reads THE DAO BUMS in big glowing neon letters above the circus tent, but there is plenty of space and everyone is welcome to enter and leave as they may. "Ahoy! See the semen retentioners and Taoist magicians..." EDIT: Seriously enough, you certainly lack patience and professionalism. Did you really imagine everything would work out just fine without challenges? You need to have an open heart to make inspections without prejudice and not get involved in perceived negativities. Science is a demanding approach and not for everyone, so it will take time before you reach out for the right people and generate the level of discussion and peer review you desire. It really cannot be hurried, I am afraid. Kudos to you for trying at all.

That depends on what you are willing to shoehorn as spiritual teaching. It's true though that in some cases bad karma may take to odd side paths that bring valuable lessons and eventual resolutions to avoid further discomforts and distractions. In my humble opinion what Buddha taught is a necessary and sufficient litmus test for identifying what is a proper spiritual teaching: "To avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to purify one's mind—this is the teaching of the Buddhas." Is spreading marmelade on a toast a spirtual teaching in this view? That depends whether you skillfully attend to your hunger, or abuse the innocent nourishment for other purposes that have no connection to your natural awareness and function as a healthy human being.

C T wrote about realization which by definition is beyond mere belief and conceptualization. One may intellectually "see" that non-attachment and letting go are simple and beneficial, but that is a far cry from actually realizing either. My teacher also keeps stating that most people hoard a lot of karmic energies tangled with their limited self-image or ego. Once permanent awakening occurs, this instantly realizes and resolves karmic unwinding.

Why was I writing in this thread in the first place? I wanted to give a view that the Buddhist sutra teachings and their favorite methods, samatha and vipassana, may not be the most pleasant and easiest ways to health and enlightenment. There are many ways to establish ati and reinforce its experience as C T implied in his earlier post. I have learned to do it through simple but very effective tantric practices that culminate in guruyoga prior to ati meditation. All of these prior exercises introduce open awareness naturally and use barely any meditative effort excluding some gentle visualization (in which I am not very good), hence leading to stable ati without any deliberate samatha or vipassana visitations. It's frankly amazing that such teachings exist. Theoretical explanations such as this can be meaningful in some dzogchen traditions if they utilize them in practice. Open awareness is the original nature of mind. If it helps someone to stay there better by applying methods of samatha and vipassana, then great. The simpler way I do it is just relaxing into ati, which is increasingly easy and natural. Is it any wonder why atiyoga is sometimes called non-meditation?

Are you sure this is the right way? Why do people consider forceful and masochistic pain endurance practices necessary evils for spiritual cultivation? I would consider having another teacher who can make meditation fun again. Then again I am doing atiyoga (dzogchen), and it does away with vipassana approach completely because open awareness is superior to our usual limited attention (mindfulness).

Excellent, thanks from my heart. I already have some good topic ideas in mind that I will be journaling over the weekend.

Could I have a personal practice discussion space, pretty please?

Hi. Been doing qigong for a while, but it became obvious that it's not everything what I need, despite the fact that it worked quite well on health. Something felt missing. Recently I came across a school of Tantric Buddhism and Dzogchen which really felt like coming home. No looking back anymore. My current interests are in finding authentic Daoist elixir and alchemy methods. I believe this place is a good place to look around. kempomaster's lowkey announcement of a forthcoming Stillness-Movement Neigong course got me particularly hooked. Really looking forward to learning the system. I have a slight interest for internal martial arts, but I am looking for something outside of standard playing with qi and empty force, e.g. developing higher awareness and dandao. Is there anything authentic out there? Any tips are welcome. Thanks for reading. - v -

Thank you everyone for your warm welcome.

Hi Brion and thank you for the heads up. I heard your call and registered both here and already with Michael for the distance course. GoT I&II on my way, so that will be the beginning. Am currently planning to make a practice journal for SM and GoT because this site provides a very handy platform for that.

I don't like Nietzche.