dwai

haha I was telling my teacher that before I used to feel "high" when I practiced. Now it is a lot more detached. I asked if it was a good or bad sign. He told me that when we feel "high", it's usually because the upper centers are being used (especially the upper dan tian). For a while now, my awareness is falling into the heart center...so that's where I feel aware from nowadays. This feels more detached...time seems to be more "in the moment". The body does feel the energies, but there is no exhilaration from the energy flow like it happens when the "third eye" is more active. That "high" feeling can be addictive...but it is not emptiness.

It's a sign of trying to do more than one's intellect can handle. If you train for a 1500m run and then go run in the Boston Marathon, you WILL hurt yourself. That's why when one works with the subtle body, one has to first prepare appropriately. As far as the religious dogma goes, I can only say that it too is part of the inadequate preparation. Analogy I can give is, if all you have done is traveled on foot, when you get wings, you will be scared as you soar high up in the clouds and then suddenly look down at the ground far far below...

Indeed there is not. Yet we tend to have an aversion to, or guilt associated with those thoughts we deem "negative". With time, meditation reveals a witness who is separate and distinct from the thoughts (or contents of the mind). Letting go, is the process where, being aware of the "witness I", you let go of the thoughts. Precisely like you would see some debris flowing in a stream and choose to not pick it up. Our general tendency is to pick up everything that we see floating in the proverbial stream... Yes

Thought those of you who like the Ashtavakra Gita might enjoy this little debate. The dialogues are in Hindi but there is good cc in English.

Be here now! How many times have we heard this? When it happens quite suddenly, We surely can't deny this. There is no past, There is no future. Only this one moment, Being is its nature. Time slows down, Sometimes it just stops. The mind sinks into the heart, And the ego drops! Moving from the stillness, Stillness is in motion. All is just this nowness... It is your own creation. Front or back, Up or down... Just have got no meaning. When you are just this is-ness, What's ends, and what has a beginning? Be here now. Time is a ghostly river. Nowhere is everywhere... This now is thus forever.

So, as the lore goes - Yang Lu Chan studied with the Chen family in Chen Village and then went to Beijing to teach there (his village near Beijing). He also taught his three sons. As time progressed, his elder son Yang Ban-hou became very famous and eventually draw the attention of the Ching royal family. He was asked to become the instructor for royal family and imperial guard. Since he didn't want the secrets to be taught to the manchus, he created the long form (108) and taught that. This provided health benefits but didn't teach the martial secrets. Does anyone have any alternate version of the story? Or material from the Yang Family that denies this? (please provide specific material towards that end if possible). Thanks in advance.

Lust is a big hurdle if we consider it as such. Or it could just be a bodily reaction to a potential candidate of procreation. In my experience it becomes an issue when we start having inner conflicts over it...feeling guilty, self-judgmental etc. It is rooted in moral judgements thinking patterns we have acquired over the course of our lives. Lust starts to get sublimated automatically as we age imho and ime. It only becomes a vicious cycle when we start getting into neurotic patterns (as described above).... mind thinks a lustful thoughts...fear, guilt, self-recrimination, abstinence, lustful thoughts....over and over.

I've been doing some more reading and research on Damo's work. Very humble, very accomplished (at a young age that too) and he exudes a very positive, compassionate energy. I am sure he will go from strength to strength with time...

This knowledge is not just knowledge in the academic sense. It is the essence of that one (Brahman) distilled into verses. It is a proverbial seed that needs to be cultivated properly to grow a healthy and fruitful tree. For any Hindu, the Vedas (including the Upanishads aka Vedanta) are essentially "a-paurushiya" (or not of human origin). They are called "Shruti" i.e. "heard" as opposed to "smriti" i.e. "remembered". Yes, I know...most people today read the "remembered" verses...yet...there are far many more advanced beings (so much more than me that my mind boggles as to how much more) have said without any uncertainty...they are Shruti and therefore are held in highest esteem (agamaha) as being closest to the direct experience (pratyaksha). The knowledge/intellectual process I refer to is "anumana" (inferential realization). All three Pratyaksha (direct experience), Agamaha (Shruti and testimony of reliable sources) and Anumana (inference) are considered valid sources of the truth, with the highest being Pratyaskha. So, a Vedantin will start with the teachings of a Guru (or in modern times, a commentary by a Guru), who will teach the Upanishads, and during the course of the learning, inferentially come to a certain realization. That is also reinforced by the experiential realizations that occur during the process. It is a gradual process of refinement. That is the Jnana Yoga way. It is however, not meant for everyone (not even necessarily for those who are considered intelligent or exceptionally intelligent in the normal sense).

Hindu practitioners are encouraged to have an "Ishta Devata" (or Deity of preference) with whom they can establish a personal relationship. This helps in the process of surrender. Some traditions are dualistic and always maintain the separation from their deity. Some other traditions are non-dual and they help the seeker worship their own Self via the deity.

Ask yourself this - "Who is it that was born?"

yes of course. The gate is the realization that "self logic" is inconclusive. All it does is presents the logical choice in the matter -- If Non-dual is ultimately right, then logic and the rational mind needs to be left at the gate before venturing further. Alternately, the seeker discards the non-dual and returns full-on into the dualistic mode. However, when one does the knowledge/introspective meditation that is part of the Advaita tradition, there are many experiential insights one cannot reject, that show clearly that the ego-mind/rational-mind self is relative only. Especially in the Advaita Vedanta tradition, a very important pre-cursor to the removal of avidya (ignorance) is the logical and rational analysis of the Vedanta philosophy. Yes, there are many who by-pass this and go straight to "Who Am I?" etc. However, usually one has had to have done significant work (either in previous births or in the present one) to get to a point where the "Who Am I?" actually makes sense. I am speaking from my personal experience of course. I was always attracted to Advaita Vedanta. However, initially (when I was in my 20s), when I tried to study it, I found the material gave me headaches (both literal and allegorical). I did not have what we Hindus call "Adhikara" (or Authority) to study the material. Eventually, the seeds that were present started unfolding, with proper practice and intellectual maturity. And suddenly, the very same words that were difficult to grasp started making sense. After working the logical side of things out (intellectually), the knowledge blossomed into "a-ha!" moments when the experiential side of things made sense. Of course it was grace that made these moments appear. However, I don't think, in my case, the moments would arise without the ground work being done..however ignorantly or unwittingly it might seem that I started down the path.

The gate through which we have to travel into the Self - beyond the "I am".

It means that when there is no vestige of doubt about your True Self, then there is no further need for renunciation or any volitional action. The action will happen on its own...the organism just goes along with it. You are using your mind/intellect to understand something using logic that is not applicable to the nondual Self. While that approach is relevant and for many seekers necessary, it is also inadequate. It only takes you to the gate... After that is a leap of assuredness into the unknowable.

Sometimes the fruit that ripens over lifetimes, falls from the tree suddenly. Also yes Bhakti (devotion) is as effective and powerful as the other ways. Now that you have a glimpse at the true nature of your being, just stay there. Be in constant remembrance of your true nature...you are not the body, you are not the mind. You see that unattached, atemporal awareness that witnesses all risings and fallings away...

Of course

These are factual statements. They seem radical because the ego mind still is lodged in the center-stage of our apparent being-ness

I only have three main practices. One I have been doing almost daily with break since 2001 - Taiji and eventually Dao Gong/Nei Gong (perhaps since 2006). Well...there was a break period in 2003 (for a few months). But since then, almost without break. I average about 2 hrs a day since Feb 2015. Prior to that averaged about 1 hr a day. I also have been a practitioner of jnana yoga (the way of knowledge), specifically Advaita Vedanta, but non-dualism in general. Been doing that since 2000 (though Advaita Vedanta study started in seriousness only since 2005-6). This involves both a mental and intellectual exercises of using logic to understand what is being said and taught wrt. that which cannot be spoken Eventually I found that the intellect can only take us to realizations about what "that which cannot be named" IS NOT. Then slowly seemingly cryptic and confusing texts and teachings began to make more sense. So the third practice is essentially the practical side of this jnana yoga - meditation into the nature of "that which cannot be named" - aka "Who am I?". This meditation blends into and aids my taiji and daogong practice (and in fact, there is no difference between them). The core of who we are (who I am) is the same Emptiness that is non-different from the Dao. I've shared my daily taiji practice videos in my PPF before...sitting practice is much simpler and I think anyone can do it. Cognition is rooted in an awareness. Recognize that awareness (as I am reading what I typed...recognize that there is someone who is witnessing the reading of these words). Turn my mind to seek that which is witnessing the reading (or seeing, or hearing, or smelling or tasting or feeling or thinking). Stay there...

Actually the study of humanities, anthropology etc is often labeled "soft science" -- http://www.dictionary.com/browse/soft-science

Past life samskar

It would us good to read the Ashtavakra Gita.

I'd also like to point out to people who are "debating", the logical fallacies that are bound to be used (inadvertently or deliberately) and *should* be avoided -- https://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/fallacies.html

Been there...done that! It is for each of us to realize in our own way, and when the time is right, my friend It's best to keep following things in mind (given that you are a proponent of Buddha dharma and Dao) - give up the tendency to hold on to positions. Holding on to positions causes pain and suffering. Being free of positions is freedom. So it doesn't matter if there is Atman or Anatta. Don't latch on to either. Just be...and be free.

CC, You are free to believe what you want. Those of us who live the teachings of Vedanta don't need your seal of approval