9th

Then why make them?

Mercury is the symbolic key to alchemical processes. In india the creation of solidified mercury (as above) has been practiced since ancient times. Mercury (latin) or Hermes (greek) is the patron god of ancient alchemy, amongst many other things - although as a higher force, it is recognized to be a universal principal.

You say this as if that is always the case, but I can promise you that is wrong. It does happen, but so does sacrifice. Ive seen it with my own eyes. They are just about as various as people for the most part. However, if you are just looking for a comfortable answer, Im sure you can find one wherever you look. It wont be true or applicable, but you can surely find one.

Sure they can, but it almost always has to do with protecting their young.

RIP http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/world/asia/run-run-shaw-dies/

Lighten up, dont identify, forgive yourself If you feel responsible for everything, then deal with it

I dont care if you concur or not, and I have no interest in your posts. The same goes for your little friend.

O you heuens arrise: the lower heuens vnder neath you, let them serve you! Gouern those that govern: cast down such as fall! Bring furth with those that encrease, and destroy the rotten! No place let it remayne in one number: ad and diminish vntill the stars be numbred! Arrise, Move, and Appere before the Couenant of his mowth, which he hath sworne vnto vs in his Iustice. Open the Mysteries of your Creation: and make vs partakers of Vndefyled Knowledg.

If you find these personal distinctions useful, that is great. However I do not consider any of this discussion to be relevant to practice and therefore I find it difficult to invest a significant amount of time and energy in what I consider akin to a dog chasing its own tail. While these various views may or may not be "true" in some way, I do not find them applicable in that I have no desire to teach or debate in a formal manner. I also notice no one has addressed the quote from the Buddha himself which I posted above, which is something I would wholeheartedly agree with - in that the classical buddhist persepective regards ALL VIEWS as hindrances. The very act of postulating these various views is in itself a problem from the perspective of buddhism. Again, I see it as "more of the same" samsaric activity, dressed up and presented as "spiritual truth". Dzogchen in particular is an echo of the original buddhist practice, in my understanding. Essentially it is not buddhist, but rather shares the same objective, and thus is intimately related. However at its core I consider Dzogchen to be the ultimate maturation of Tibetan shamanism, and without an understanding of shamanic paths I doubt anyone would truly be able to grasp the "landscape" as well as the practices presented in the texts. It doesnt really matter because you will absolutely need to study with a trained Lama to receive dzogchen teachings in any real or proper way.

This is an interview with a former student of Muktananda, when he was still residing in India before all the controversy and so forth. Its pretty interesting stuff. He doesnt white wash anything or do any apologizing or anything like that either.

The whole idea is irrelevant to begin with, which is why there is no great focus on an explanation for related phenomena. The key understanding involves recognizing experiences of perception caused by mistaking subject and object as different, separate things. This is why buddhism is regarded as a teaching from the perspective of anatman - "not self". It begins from the position that there is no self. Experience, awareness and perception is not regarded as self. Therefore it is not regarded that there are other selves "out there" as well. Especially classical buddhism as expounded in the Pali Canon is highly practical in a very nuts and bolts way - much less concerned with metaphysical maps and so forth. The basic idea is "do this yourself, here is how". There are plenty of stories illustrating understanding and various perspectives on the insights of practice, but when gleaning the most essential and therefore probably oldest surviving teachings from the actual person of Siddhartha, anything beyond practical talk was either patently ignored or curtly dismissed.

The reason there is no idea of a shared space of all beings in buddhism is because sentient beings are not seen as existent as separate entities to begin with, but rather as a mistaken perception resulting from composites of various elements.

Enoch and Metatron were both figured most prominently in the Merkabah tradition of esoteric Judaism - which has not been properly decoded in its entirety to this day. In the era when it flourished, such teachings were required to be hidden in such a way in order to escape persecution, and apparently most of the context for decrypting it has been lost or forgotten or perhaps remains yet hidden. It almost certainly consisted of an "astral technology" as well, in which invocations of specific formulae were designed to produce reliably consistent objective results in the realm of meditation. Of course, such technology would require the proper preparations involving an essential understanding of the numerous elements comprising said formulae - but apparently it was akin to the methods of the egyptian priesthood whereby "dreams and visions" could be shared, made to last as permanent places and portals for interactions with higher beings and forces, etc. Somewhat like a language or map of the astral plane which could be taught and agreed upon and therefore benefit from communal interaction and progressive development throughout generations.

It does depend on which "school" you are looking at, but much more importantly the person in question and especially where they are at in the moment. However, Ive never seen or heard summations with such one-dimensional descriptions as you ascribe above in the stream of Vajrayana - which is intimately related and significantly derived from the tantrikas of old, especially those who were said to embody the "peak" of that tradition - namely the mahasiddhas of India. Of course there is always the possibility of the phenomena where that which is unrecognized remains so by virtue of being unrecognized in the first place. In other words, some of the most glib and simplistic descriptions of the paradoxical or absolute "ultimate truth" can be interpreted in countless ways depending on the person who sees/hears/reads such things - and if they are predisposed to a certain interpretation, it is likely to result in such. Descriptions of "ultimate truth" will always be this way because they will never fit - it is only in descriptions of "convential truth" can something be debated over and hashed out in a neatly detailed way.

where's my money, punk? said Yama to the deceased try again... again...

This is quite true, yet what the ancient masters who express such sentiments have not seemed to understand is that it was a necessary "fall from grace". Or perhaps I have not researched enough to find their admissions of such. I speak of the availability of "free will" - much like when a child is no longer protected and guided by his parents, but must strike out on its own and discover for itself how to live. The harmony of the golden age before humanity became aware of the potential to go against the Tao - this was a false harmony in the sense it was unconscious. The possibility of conscious harmony is only possible once this "enchantment" of unconscious harmony is broken. It is not possible to align your will with the Tao if you have no will to begin with. It is the same as the way the infinite and all-encompassing divine principle has chosen to occlude itself and manifest as countless singular, temporary life forms. There seems to be a necessity to enrich the impersonal with the personal. It is one of the greatest mysteries. Some only see the circle because they are not looking from the right angle - they miss the ascending and descending spirals which comprise it because they ignore the multi-dimensional awareness that reveals it as such. If one was to speak of the big, BIG circle they will not be referring to humanity, earth, or even all the cosmoses in the multiverse. And I have heard no such talk in disparaging terms.

Those arent the only people pissed off at the Dalai Lama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorje_Shugden_controversy

A ZEN STORY A serious young man found the conflicts of mid 20th Century America confusing. He went to many people seeking a way of resolving within himself the discords that troubled him, but he remained troubled. One night in a coffee house, a self-ordained Zen Master said to him, "go to the dilapidated mansion you will find at this address which I have written down for you. Do not speak to those who live there; you must remain silent until the moon rises tomorrow night. Go to the large room on the right of the main hallway, sit in the lotus position on top of the rubble in the northeast corner, face the corner, and meditate." He did just as the Zen Master instructed. His meditation was frequently interrupted by worries. He worried whether or not the rest of the plumbing fixtures would fall from the second floor bathroom to join the pipes and other trash he was sitting on. He worried how would he know when the moon rose on the next night. He worried about what the people who walked through the room said about him. His worrying and meditation were disturbed when, as if in a test of his faith, excrement fell from the second floor bathroom onto him. At that time two people walked into the room. The first asked the second who the man was sitting there was. The second replied "Some say he is a holy man. Others say he is a shithead." Hearing this, the man was enlightened.

Its all grist for the mill. It is not possible to respect or disrespect the teachings, except within your own mind. The way is always open, always available, always accessible to those who are called to follow it. It does not matter if someone wishes to go another way and call it the only true path. Everyone is free to do as they wish, they are free to regard anything as they wish, because the consequences are all-inclusive. Again, grist for the mill. Some may seek to comprehend the totality of karma, but it is not actually possible. Karma is endless. Remember - when you have been shot with a poisoned arrow, the real matter at hand is to deal with the poison - the who and how and why of it is secondary at best. Truly, the practice is quite simple. And yet - it seems very few have the capacity for it, at least according to the incessant demonstrations of ye olde status quo. What seems to be the most common is yet another game, another competition, another scramble for the win - with "spiritual" or "mystical" placeholders and puppets instead of "normal" or "mainstream" ones. Its all quite rote... but its still grist for the mill. The only question is: how much grinding do you need?

If I speak in the spirit of this time, I must say: no one and nothing can justify what I must proclaim to you. Justification is superfluous to me, since I have no choice, but I must. I have learned that in addition to the spirit of this time there is still another spirit at work, namely that which rules the depths of everything contemporary. The spirit of this time would like to hear of use and value. I also thought this way, and my humanity still thinks this way. But that other spirit forces me nevertheless to speak, beyond justification, use, and meaning. Filled with human pride and blinded by the presumptuous spirit of the times, I long sought to hold that other spirit away from me. But I did not consider that the spirit of the depths from time immemorial and for all the future possesses a greater power than the spirit of this time, who changes with the generations. The spirit of the depths has subjugated all pride and arrogance to the power of judgment. He took away my belief in science, he robbed me of the joy of explaining and ordering things, and he let devotion to the ideals of this time die out in me. He forced me down to the last and simplest things. The spirit of the depths took my understanding and all my knowledge and placed them at the service of the inexplicable and the paradoxical. He robbed me of speech and writing for everything that was not in his service, namely the melting together of sense and nonsense, which produces the supreme meaning. The supreme meaning is great and small - it is as wide as the space of the starry Heaven and as narrow as the cell of the living body. - Carl Jung, Liber Primus

Usually, we rely upon reference points, conceptual ideas, and feedback to give us guidelines as to how to be good or bad boys and girls, but such dependence is questionable. If you say to your doctor, "I have insomnia; how can I fall asleep?" the doctor responds by saying, "Take these pills. Then you will have no problem". In America in particular, that approach has become a problem. In tantra, the point is not how to handle ourselves but that we simply have to do it. We cannot trick ourselves into realizing the state of immovability, or indestructibility. Indestructibility is based on our experience, which is solid, dynamic, and unyielding. In that way, tantric discipline does not cooperate with any deception at all; therefore, it is regarded as indestructible, immovable. The tantric approach of non-participation in the games that go on in the samsaric world, however, is something more than boycotting. When we boycott something, we do so in the name of a protest. We disagree with certain systems or certain ideas, and therefore, we make a nuisance of ourselves. In this case, instead of boycotting the samsaric setup, we are fully and personally involved with it. We realize all the so-called benefits that the samsaric world might present to us - spiritual, psychological, and material goods of all kinds. We are fully aware of all the alternatives, but we do not yield to any of them at all. We are straightforward and hardheaded. That is the quality of immovability. The word hardheaded is very interesting. When we say somebody is hardheaded, we mean that he is not taken in by anything. That is precisely what is meant by the term vajra nature: hard-headedness, vajra-headedness. Vajra is a quality of toughness and not being taken in by any kind of seduction. We also talk about "hard truth." Such truth is hard, unyielding, and uncomplimentary. When we receive news of someone's death, it is the hard truth. We cannot go back and say that it is not true. We cannot hire an attorney to argue the case or spend our money trying to bring the person back to life, because it is the hard truth. In the same way, vajra nature is hard truth. We cannot challenge or manipulate it in any way at all. It is both direct and precise. - Chogyam Trungpa