adept

What about prunes ?

Modified Ecstasy (MDMA)

Excellent news !

Way back when I was a hell-raising clubber I consumed copious amounts of E. :D

From 'The Book Of Balance Of Harmony' by Thomas Cleary:

'Ironically, one of the most comprehensive descriptions of Taoism as it is understood in advanced Taoist circles can be found in a Buddhist text, the Avatamsaka Sutra, which is held to contain the totality of all religion'

I'm trying to find the sutra on the full experience of Enlightenment.

Avatamsaka ?

It's probably the closest from a Mahayana Buddhist perspective.

Prepare to give up half your life to read and study it though !

Just so you know, my coworkers think I'm nuts because almost every post of yours I come across I end up laughing my ass off.

Yes. It's nice to have a bit of his Turkish humour. The place would be dull without some sarcasm and dry wit.

OK. I'm not suggesting for one minute that morality just happens by itself. Of course we need the guidance of our parents and school teachers when we're younger. As I wrote in the Confucian forum, Xunzi said that if we did not receive proper guidance, humanity would run amok, as we have the inborn tendencies to be greedy, selfish, ignorant and downright nasty.

Proper guidance and upbringing does not equal outdated holy rulebooks.

Hi Eskrimador.

Welcome to the forums.

I used to practice Doce Pares many moons ago.

Great martial art.

This thread is awesome !

The connection between runes and sacred geometry is not one I had considered. Brilliant.

the problem is that whiteout religion or moral standard to guide actions there is no just system possible... think about it before you respond...

You will instinctively know if your actions are right or wrong. No holy book, precepts or commandments are needed. Morals come from the heart and from the experiences of life, not from scriptures and top-down authoritarian religious institutions.

Yes. He probably has keyboard rash !

Bump

Please carry on with the discussion. I don't see it as derailing but more of a progression. It's taken an interesting turn and I'd love to read more.

Hello,

The Divine Life Society website has lots of excellent resources, (for instance http://swami-krishna...rg/sitemap.html ) for a more "western" adaptation check out Eknath Easwaran. There are at least hundreds (thousands) other fine resources for study and comparison !! Good hunting to you.

Thanks 3bob.

 

4. Put both hands in front of your abdomen, palms facing up, aligned on top of each other. Ladies should put their right hands on top, gentlemen put their left hands on top. The lower hand should be at about navel height, the upper hand should be about 1 to 4 inches above the lower hand. The five fingers should be somewhat straightened and about 0.2 inches apart. It is important that the little fingers stretch downward slightly. Your shoulders and elbows should be fully relaxed, but the armpits should remain hollow. The upper arms and hands should be 1 to 4 inches away from the body, and they should not touch the body.............

 

 

In kind regards,

 

Adam.

Hi Adam, or anyone else who can clarify this point above.

The way this is described, does the top hand rest in the lower one, or does it hover above it between 1-4 inches ?

I only ask because in the description it seems that the hand doesn't sit in the lower one, but in the diagram on the linked page, it looks as if the hand does sit, also with the thumbs touching. Like the mudra used in zazen.

Any thoughts ?

P.S. An awesome post that just needed bumping.

Bump !!

Thanks gatito, will do.

Welcome back Drew !

I've lately been drawn to Vedantic sources and I'm looking for some legit teachings and teachers.

More along the lines of meditative practices and teachings, rather than Advaita self-enquiry methods.

There are a number of unscrupulous people out there so I was after a heads-up on decent stuff.

Anyway, I came across this website:

http://www.dharmacentral.com/index.php

and wondered if anyone has any information about them and whether they are the real deal.

P.S.

I do like the look of Swami Lakshmanjoo and Kashmir Shaivism. I've got good vibes from visiting the English language website of his teachings.

As usual, any help would be most appreciated.

Nobody called me as child rapist, the one who needs to find the light through Satan's asshole, homophobic and Satan's emissary, ignorant, self contradicting in the last 24 hours. Yeaah, I guess the topic is right, the TB is losing its magic.

 

I am staying on the forum just to read the posts of His Excellency, Dorian Black, the tu-di (inner disciple) and commercial advertisement agency of Gary J. Clyman, the Greatest Neigong master on this planet called Earth.

And the richest, judging by the price of his DVD's, that is if anyone's buying them.

Hi Adept,

You know, all the experiences that I have had with the void were luminous, clear, bright.. Like being in a wide open space and there were very very distant faint 'stars'. After overcoming the fear of dying, one time I 'jumped in' and bounced back out. Other times, during a form of spinal breathing, I have found myself just hanging out there in the same vast dark space, but I could see the lower part of my being; it resembled a jelly fish of translucent light beams something like a bar magnet's polarity field.. I really wonder if this is the same void that you are getting to.. Or, perhaps it is another state.. But really, who knows..

 

Regardless,

 

I'm wondering if maybe it may of some benefit for you to read the following quote from "Wisdom Wide and Deep" from Shaila Catherine because some of the characteristics that you have listed are addressed in it. Drats! I could not find a link to the quote, so I'm going to type this in..

 

 

 

On the bright side (pun intended), if you make an effort to enhance your clarity and vividness, perhaps you will start to see lights, nimittas, luminosity, and, as Shaila is saying, the state may indicate that you are on the threshold of the jhanas..

 

For a long time, while meditating, Shaila Catherine noted that everything brightened up during her breath meditations. And, she wrote in her book, it was only at the point where she started to see the bright light and focused on it that she made serious rapid progress into the jhanas..

 

Hopefully you will find some value in this post.. If not, that's ok too..

 

TI

Thanks TI for your input on this matter.

It does sound very like my experience, albeit in Buddhist Abhidhammic lingo.

It could be that I'm on the verge of jhana by that definition. I'll see how it goes.

you just need to buy the Mind Light Nei Kung package for $3,450.

Surely this can't be right !

Hey Adept!

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences! I too find that breath meditation is the simplest and most effective meditatoin practice for the conditioned aspects of mind to fall away revealing naked luminous emptiness.

 

It is very impressive to me that you experience this everytime you meditate and within only a few minutes. In this context, you are an adept indeed.

 

How long have you been practicing and for how long and often each day?

 

Can you offer commentary on how you came to this level of mastery? Any advice for the rest of us to get to the same level of competency?

 

Can you point to any resources for practice of this nature and its results of no-mind? Any that you recommend?

 

What affect has this daily realisation of emptiness had on your consciousness, personality and daily, social and work life?

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Adam.

Hi Adam.

I've practiced meditation for about a decade now. Lots of different approaches, but I always seem to come back to awareness of the breath. Only one session per day of half an hour, always in full lotus. I've never had any problem getting into lotus from day one. Maybe that helps, I don't know.

I'm not sure how I came to this regular state. It just seemed to happen a few weeks ago. Maybe it's the result of years of practice suddenly bearing fruit.

I started out, like some people, focussing on the dantian. Normal abdominal breathing. Then, without me consciously recognizing it, I found myself being aware of the mechanism of breathing. Being aware as I breathed in, and being aware when I breathed out. And that was it. I had dropped the focussing on the dantian without knowing I had. It all happened so naturally.

As far as resources go, my interests have been varied over the years. From the TTC to the Pali Canon, to Zen and Ch'an. Then dropping Buddhism altogether because there's something I still don't get with it. It doesn't feel right for me.

These days I seem to be drawn to Vedantic sources and to the Bhagavad Gita. It feels as if I'm re-discovering something which I've previously known, maybe from lifetimes past.

We all have different paths, some which take us on many different routes.

I still have a LOT of work to do on my morals and behaviour. I am currently trying to get to the root of my anger issues so it's not all rosy in the garden just yet.

Hope this helps.

Hi Adept,

When you are in that state, what do you see? What are you aware of? Do you see any lights? Is there vividness and luminosity?

 

TI

Hi TI

I don't have any luminosity or brightness, on the contrary, it seems dark, but not in a frightening or threatening way at all. It feels completely natural and right to be there, as if I've always belonged there.

I don't feel aware of anything in particular, but I feel aware. Hard to put into words that one.

I miss Drew : (

And his 'O at a D's'

I think 'The Gospel Of Thomas' is required reading for anyone interested in Gnostic Christianity.

I would love to learn more from the Sufism side of things.