Lucky7Strikes

Then the bodhisattvas who vow to liberate all sentient beings must be deluded too? I think your understanding is too ideological. The path you outlined above can become nihilistic if not understood in union with luminosity/presence/bliss.

This is an important point I think, the conventional and non-conventional. What is non-conventional then? Also, What in experience is the difference between the illusion of solidity in thought and the illusion of non-solidity in thought exactly? Is there a difference at all in those?

Didn't you say there are no things? So what isn't conventional that we can know? Perhaps we need to investigate further into the nature of "this" besides that it is impermanent. Well, yes and no, in my perspective. The view is only the beginning of meditation wherein it is used to penetrate not only ideas but of all experience arising due to past habits of delusion, including your experience in this realm of existence. Integration is actually the true Path, the ideology stuff is merely a preparation.

It's actually a crucial point, not just a gotcha thing that needs to be contemplated on. And do conventional things not exist? What? There are no things? Then what is "this"? It's less like a destination but an entry point.

Space is continuous is it not? Identity does not imply continuity, it can be conventional. Also, I can ask it the other way around. If there is not identity, "things" what is it that changes? If you say there is just change, then that doesn't make sense: change connotes action, an activity. Is is descriptive. And how do you know that is illusion and "disjointedness" is not? Isn't that also a production of your mind? And what remains after the view is dissolved? The notion of self, not just of being a separate person, but of all experiences and phenomena as inherent, runs much deeper than just mental formulations.

The achievements are signs of realization of the view, the unity of emptiness and luminosity/presence/bliss. Suffering on levels of mind, sensations, perception, etc...end once the view begins to penetrate their depths in meditation. In Mahayana the suffering aspect extends to all beings once personal suffering is ceased, so the path is gradual and immediate at the same time? It is more effortless once one gets used to it i guess .

Adding to that quote: It is not existent - even the Victorious Ones do not see it. It is not nonexistent - it is the basis of all samsara and nirvana. This is not a contradiction, but the middle path of unity. May the ultimate nature of phenomena, limitless mind beyond extremes, be realised. -Randjung Dorje

Uh, space? Anyways, the notion of everything being disjointed and discontinuous is extreme and simple minded. We need first to valuate what a "thing" is and how we delineate a single moment from the next, whether that separation is inherent in reality or not. Also, the very fact that you are aware of changing things implies that there was a continuity in observance, or at least the knowledge that A came before B etc.

How does impermanence establish impermanence as a fact? .

This is for the mind so that it does not see the inherence in cause and effect, things, events, etc. Instead it sees the entire universe. The key word throughout the whole thing is: "inception." But this is only seeing emptiness of ash to firewood and not emptiness of ash and firewood, i.e. the "moments" themselves.

I understand you coming from a psychological standpoint. But the current system is rigged. Money no longer represents "things" anymore. It only appears that way.

I bet people like you have already created them out of their minds!

Wait, why don't you just try to get a girlfriend in this dimension?

Ingram's views have been going through interesting changes since his integration of Actual Freedom practices. I haven't read upon them recently but it's worth checking out on the DO forum.

The part about the market begins around 40 minutes and is less than half an hour long. Before you just say, I disagree, say exactly how you disagree and uh, what your disagreement is? I'll try to summarize briefly here: The monetary system we have today works on the principles of of debt and interest. This leads to inflation because there is demand for more money to be made and printed. It's not a system of equilibrium, but unlimited growth. The government goes into debt when it decides to print more money. Money is made out of debt. Then when it gets put in the bank the bank can loan out money on the basis of credit without actual exchange of the money. So more money is created out of debt/interest paradigm. This leads to inflation rates that the rest of the economy, in terms of services and goods, cannot catch up with so people go into more debt. Inequality is basically built into the system between the lender and the borrower, the biggest lender being the bank itself. If you are on the borrower side you are basically working up an ever steepening hill. You are forced to work because the assets you have will continually be devalued. This whole paradigm extends not only to people but to countries like Jamaica where the IMF gives them money, the country goes into debt, is forced to open its doors to foreign companies, loses its natural resources and economic autonomy, and goes into...further debt because the money isn't going to the people but to banks and corporations. This also leads to ==> The current economic paradigm is based on supply and demand: production and consumption fuels the market, and the faster the system runs, the system is seen to regulate itself. But this is only theoretical because resources the money supposedly represents are limited. So what companies and corporations do is err on the side of a wasteful mode of production that destroys the environment since the more wasteful you are, buying and buying, the system works as it is supposed to. The money needs to move in order for there to be profit, so stability is seen as stagnancy: conflict is what generates profit. That's why we are bred to be consumers since we are born. We no longer run on the concept of "need" but on "wants" that have little to do with our actual biological and psychological fulfillments. We have created an economy that is destructive to our own sense of contentment and environmental preservation and have made our lives into wage laborers. Money no longer represents goods, it represents itself. This is evident in stock markets and debt trading where the money doesn't value or represent anything but are traded, lended, bundled in complex derivatives for the sole purpose of profit, adding nothing of physical or service value to society Anyways, this is the basic jest, I'm not an economics expert, but I have friends who are studying in business schools who agree with the above observances. I encourage you watch the video because it explains things in more knowledgeable formats.

Haha, not so "Simple" though. .

Why don't you watch it yourself if you are going to disagree with it. This is like saying, can you tell me what the book is about so I can tell people why it's bad?

Well sort of. Capital creating capital basically. No work is done, just clever scheming and greed.

Why can't you do wizardry with energy channels?

Only if it applied to rest of the world. Few people's greed have corrupted the whole system so the concept is only semi-valid. .

Money is ok as long as it stands for material goods, as a tool for exchange. When money is used to beget more money this is where all the trouble begins.

@ BoL All your language is combative and driven by comparing yourself to "others"--a good sign of insecurity and enlarged ego, same things really.

@ BoL Listen to Gold and Steve f, they are offering some valuable advice here before you waste away years and energies.

I agree, no realization is permanent. Flush buddhahood down the toilet. @BoL You can't find joys in daily life. So now you chase after spiritual bliss thinking it will lead to salvation. Gold is right, you are trading one fear for another, one goal for another. At heart, it's no different than compared to a man chasing sexual pleasures. You are seeking states, seeking pleasures, seeking powers. How are you any different? There's absolutely nothing wrong with either! Be ok with suffering and death. Accept them totally. When you are in struggle with them you are simply creating a reaction, a polarity that strengthens their significance. Everything simple comes and goes, just be at peace with the world.