adept

it is all about me and the creator..

Who is this creator that you speak of ?

Who created the creator ?

I will be sure to ask the Creator for luck.

Do you have him on speed dial ?

ET and Higher Being masters do not count.. They have no need of money in the first place..

This thread is hilarious.

But at the heart of what the Buddha taught was emptiness

I would say that the heart of the Buddha's teaching isn't emptiness but Dependent Origination (Here we go again, where's Vaj ? )

Truth is, I do not wish to teach.

 

This is why I am asking to be paid in return to share my findings with anyone.

 

I am posting my realizations in here because I need a venue to speak out sometimes.

Are you Mak Tin Si in disguise ? (One for the older forum members !)

Oooohh.. Whoooo....

 

That is gonna cost bro.

 

I have paid my dues and will still pay my dues so everyone else will have to pay me too.

I'm ready to sign up. Do you accept PayPal ?

I am not going to argue with you on this one..

 

you are beyond my limited capacity to help you become more .. realized...

What, or who is it that becomes more realized ?

More realized than..... ?

The concepts of relationships are invented by higher beings standing below the Creator who oversee the progress of human beings on behalf of the Creator.

Absurd !

Where do you get this from, the latest Hare Krishna meeting ?

Humans are social beings and interaction is a necessity.

Who are these 'higher beings' ?

Who is this creator that you speak of ?

Who created the creator ?

http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2009/05/are-insight-stages-strictly-linear.html

 

Are the insight stages strictly linear?

Posted by: An Eternal Now

I wrote this based on what Thusness/PasserBy have said regarding his Thusness/PasserBy's Seven Stages of Experience on Spiritual Enlightenment ( http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2007/03/thusnesss-six-stages-of-experience.html ) - not to think of the 7 stages as strictly linear or having a hierarchy.

 

Some is able to understand the profound wisdom of emptiness from the start but have no direct experience of luminosity, then luminosity becomes a later phase. So does that mean the most pristine experience of "I AM" is now the last stage? On the other hand, some have experienced luminosity but does not understand how he got himself 'lost', as there is no insight to the karmic tendencies/propensities at all, therefore they cannot understand Dependent Origination adequately. But does that mean that one that experience emptiness is higher than one that experience luminosity?

 

Some people experience non-dual but did not go through the I AM, and then after non-dual the I AM becomes even more precious because it will bring out the luminosity aspect more. Also, when in non-dual, one can still be full of thoughts, therefore the focus then is to experience the thoroughness of being no-thoughts, fully luminous and present... then it is not about non-dual, not about the no object-subject split, it is about the degree of luminosity for these non-dualist. But for some monks that is trapped in luminosity and rest in samadhi, then the focus should be on refining non-dual insight and experience.

 

So just see the phases as different aspect of insights of our true nature, not necessarily as linear stages or a 'superiority' and 'inferiority' comparison. What one should understand is what is lacking in the form of realization. There is no hierarchy to it, only insights. Then one will be able to see all stages as flat, no higher.

Labels: Stages of Enlightenment |

There is also a method which by-passes all stages here.

Mal,

 

may I suggest that you do no less then 40-45 minutes in a single session instead of two separate short sessions?

Short sessions like that are close to useless in zhanzhuang, in my opinion/experience

 

YM

A word of warning on overdoing zz

'' We do not practice ‘stillness’ [jing gong']. ‘Stillness’ can refer to posture holding, as in zhan zhuang; it can also refer to practices where thought stops or the intention is focused on one place. Of course, zhan zhuang must be practiced; as the saying has it ‘practicing martial arts without holding postures is just but messing around’. San Ti, in particular, encapsulates the postural requirements of xingyi. ‘Of the myriad methods, none leaves San Ti’ ‘Mastering San Ti is halfway to success’. Whilst San Ti should not be held for long periods, it can be done several times a day. Each time you hold San Ti, you should only hold it for a maximum of 10 minutes, but this could be repeated two or three times a day. If you hold San Ti for an hour everytime you train, not only are you losing precious training time, it can also damage the nerves and capillaries in the legs. Overdoing zhan zhuang is one of the reasons why a lot of martial artists suffer leg and knee problems.''

source

Hello Jack,

 

No offense, but I have read many, many, many books about Buddhism and it's no different from any other -ism

Therein lies your problem with Buddhism.

In this world is extremely difficult bearing in mind the current level of toxicity of our planet.

Good point Gerard.

I don't know why more people don't see this. Our planet, environment, body, mind and spirit are subject to ever increasing amounts of garbage.

Namo Amitabha Buddha

Buddhism and Zen in particular, seem to be founded on this inherent idea that we are somehow wrong and only by deconstructing what we are can we make ourselves right. My question is why? Honestly I have yet to hear a valid reason for why.

Hi Aaron.

Here's my take on it.

It's not just Buddhism that has this view. The Confucian sage Xunzi based his teaching on the inherent 'badness' in an individual.

I tend to agree. Humans are capable of the most awful things. A seemingly 'good' person can change into a monster. It's the human condition, and it is ultimately flawed. Not that we are born 100% evil, but that there is a good possibility to go that way, if we do not cultivate virtue, practice compassion and develop insight into the way things are.

There is goodness in us, but the shadow will always be there also. It's learning how to live with it that's the hard part.

IMO it is a vertical model. There are infinite planes of existence since the Universe itself is so vast and contains so many worlds with their own astral planes.

Indeed it is.

Pure Land Buddhism is a horizontal model where all the realms are side-stepped in one instant.

The goal is to be born into Amitabha's Pure Land where Buddhahood is achieved.

link

link

link

The Avatamsaka Sutra and related Huayan literature is also worth delving into.

Namo Amitabha Buddha

Although Sri Lanka claims to hold a Buddhist history of over 1,000 years,it unfortunately belongs to the gradual ,trivial style of Buddhist legacy : the Hinayana , which to my bias , to my always stubborn support of Mahayana Buddhist way , is a style unlikely to nourish any great master.

The term Hinayana is a derogatory term meaning 'lesser vehicle'. Many Mahayana Buddhists wouldn't use that term when speaking of their Theravada brothers and sisters.

The Theravada tradition has produced countless great masters throughout it's history. There are a lot of vipassana masters living today in the West and also in South East Asia.

What you call a trivial style of Buddhism is probably the closest to the actual teachings of the historical Buddha, not everyone's favoured style, but hardly trivial.

I am not sure whether the highest master is in Asia or not, what I want to talk about here are the conditions that , I think, make a group /generation of Taoist /Buddhist masters arise :

 

1) The existence of a heritage of masters or many generations of masters . In China, despite severe long history of political upheavals, you can trace a school, or a Taoist/Buddhist master's sifu's sifu's sifu's.... a legacy back to a thousand year before. The advantage of it is clear: huge amount of experience are accumulated and passing to the latecomers; high-level practitioners can learn from each other..etc , making an emergence of of a /several masters more likely.

 

2) The existence of works or written records, ie, a literal legacy. As not all our understanding of Tao/Buddha Heart come from personal teachings from our sifu. In many cases, we get them by repeated readings of great works left behind by precedent masters. In China or Tibet ,you do get the conditions of reading Taoist ,Buddhist, Tibetan ,Confucian ..original or translated writings ,which of course , are very helpful.

 

3) High mountain and big mass of land. At certain stage of our cultivation, it is really needed.

 

 

So, judging from the above-mentioned 3 conditions,we can study some examples below to see where, on this globe, great masters will unlikely/likely arise:

 

a) Sri Lanka or New Zealand seems unlikely. (small island,no Taoist/Buddhist heritage..)

I would hardly call Sri Lanka or New Zealand 'small'. Sri Lanka has a Buddhist heritage of 2000 years !

 

b)Japan ( Unlikely because of no big piece land, weak cultural heritage; weak of abstract and creative reasoning ability );

Japan has a weak cultural heritage ? Then where did Shinto, Zen, Shingon, Tendai, Shugendo, Jodo Shu, Shinshu, Mikkyo and countless martial systems develop ?

 

c) Taiwan ( no big piece of land , no real great master.the cultural legacy brought from the Mainland is not enough..Some people may raise Mr. Nan -x-x .. as an example ; Unfortunately , Nan is a scholar,not any master; any careful reader can identify this without difficulty..)

 

d) Canada ( although having a big mass of land, high mountain..unfortunately no Taoist/Buddhist cultural legacy..need time to accumulate )

 

e) Some European countries: Unlikely; short cultural heritage..need some time to accumulate..

There are plenty of examples of european cultivation going back thousands of years such as Norse, Celtic, Teutonic. It doesn't need to be Taoist or Buddhist. There are masters in many other ways

 

I think spending time out in nature along with whatever qigong or meditation practice your doing is really important.

Yes. I agree with this 100%. I spend time out in nature every day. It's wonderful.

the highest masters are hiding somewhere in the Himalaya mountains

This is an over romanticized view held by many westerners.

I agree that there are probably lots of masters in the mountains and forests, but they're not limited to those places.

Cultivation can take place anywhere, even in 'high population' areas.

For example, empty force master Paul Dong lives in San Francisco and many of his students live in the U.S. and Europe.

Masters are everywhere.

On the bus.

In the park.

Working in McDonalds.

At the school.

Watching football. etc etc.

If you are serious about finding a master, you will.

Masters are everywhere.

Here are some in Japan.

The system was created by 2 of Lao tzu's top disciples.

Lao Tzu probably never existed.

The DDJ is most likely the work of many hands.

Who are these 'top disciples' of the fabled 'Lao Tzu' ?

fact is, i have no idea who your man is..

Hsu Yun

a true master is able to perform miracles .. that will be the mark of his true progress..

 

the rest are just bs actors

True masters

None of these performed 'miracles'

You would hardly find a better taoist teacher than chia.

I've found a better teacher of the Tao here.

he is able to meditate in a pot of boiling oil.. can any taiwanese or chinese taoist masters do that?.. i hardly think so..

So what !

My master is better than that.

When he's hungry, he eats. When he's tired, he sleeps.