9th

And where is a reference to the Rainbow Body in "Tantra", specifically?

This is very true but I think the main problems here are that such influences were fairly well established before the Pali Canon itself was written down. We know the texts were already codified to some extent in terms of an oral tradition for a few hundred years before the first written examples, recently discovered . And this version of the text comes from the Dharmaguptaka sect, who are attributed to the Silk Road geographically, which is also known to be the information superhighway of the ancient world and the cause for the initial spread of buddhism in general. (It could even be argued that the influence of the greeks in terms of Ghandaran buddhism were instrumental in the genesis of the original ideas of vajrayana - particularly the ideas surrounding Heracles and Zeus, the path of the "hero", and the Orphic ideas of the underworld. It is already widely known that the creation of Buddha statues were derived specifically from the greek sculptors during this period.). It seems clear that the ranks of this sect almost certainly included taoist hermits and alchemists, due to the terminology used in the texts, in terms of comparisons and metaphors and poetic devices and so forth, as well as basic taoist principals re-examined in a buddhist light. This may indicate that the interweaving of taoist ideas and principals into the structure of institutionalized buddhism was perhaps foundational to the creation of such institutionalization in the first place, and therefore effectively dissolved and merged into it completely from our modern perspective - a perspective which lacks the context which these ancient peoples were dealing with. In terms of Zen, as in the Japanese expression of Chan (meaning, after it was imported and well established), there was also an effort to revitalize and reclaim some of these early taoist influences as a response to the overly intellectualized and dry philosophy of later institutionalized buddhism. In particular, I would refer to the story of Hakuin Ekaku's "zen sickness" which he developed from intense buddhist practice, was only able to be cured by practices obtained from a "taoist sage" - which he incorporated into his meditations and teachings for the rest of his life. He placed great importance on this event, and I feel it was his respected nod to and acknowledgement of taoism in terms of "true" buddhism, which he would often compare with the "false" buddhism of his era... usually in a highly scathing manner. Hakuin is the author of the famous "what is the sound of one hand clapping" koan. He was a great proponent of the Blue Cliff Record collection, which is also seemingly a revitalization of taoist ideas and principals in the context of Chan buddhism. It could even be said that the koan itself was a return to the "governmental" approach of applied taoist philosophy as in the Tao Te Ching.

I also find this kind of discussion fascinating even though I have absolutely no clue about the chinese language. 或問「人」。曰：「艱知也。」曰：「焉難？」曰：「太山之與蟻垤，江河之與行潦，非難也。大聖之與大佞，難也。烏呼！能別似者為無難。」 Asking About Shen: Someone asked about people. Yangzi said: They are difficult to understand. The other said: Why are they difficult to understand? Yangzi said: Telling the difference between Mt. Tai and an ant-hill, or the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers from drainage ditches is not difficult. But telling the difference between a great sage and a glib talker is difficult. Indeed, one who can discriminate between things that are similar can understand people without difficulty.

Very few people have studied it enough. Again, I refer to the G-man (keep in mind this was a lecture from 1912): One of the physical exercises G taught was accessing the "big accumulator" (the solar plexus) through a specific yawning technique. And in regards to the funny stuff, we have a further development from the prescriptures of the 5th way of the Most Sly Man:

If there is truly no choice left for you, then everything you have said amounts to nothing more than whining and melodrama. If there is truly no choice left, there is no possibility for those extensive deliberations to do anything other than hold you back and trouble your mind. That isnt exactly rare - all of us have these patterns of self-reflection which we use to occupy our time and energy, as opposed to allowing the naked and original reality which is ever-present and ever-renewed. The patterns are comfortable even though they may be "painful". Respectfully, I speak my mind as I wish. Its not for you to determine if it "should" be expressed - anyway there arent any real "shoulds" here, as you yourself say a couple sentences later. Its an opinion, which I tried to make apparent with the language used. That is why I said "I would say you are most certainly not on it" rather than simply "You are most certainly not on it". Unfortunately, people in general are rarely able to communicate in any real way, and this is no different. Its nice to entertain the possibility, though. It is quite important to realize the truth of subjectivity and objectivity, in the sense of opinion vs fact.

Obsessive use of meditative disciplines or perennial study of scripture and philosophy will never bring forth this wonderful realization, this truth which is natural to awareness, because the mind that desperately desires to reach another realm or level of experience inadvertently ignores the basic light that constitutes all experience. The one who fabricates any division in consciousness betrays the friendship of Mahamudra. Cease all activity that separates, abandon even the desire to be free from desires and allow the thinking process to rise and fall smoothly as waves on a shoreless ocean. - Tilopa

Just keep on asking the hard questions, and eventually you will get some hard answers.

The most basic difference between tantric practice and mahamudra or dzogchen practice is that in the world of tantra, you are generating and dissapating and manipulating energy - i.e. "transforming the poison into medicine". In the world of dzogchen or mahamudra, there is no transformation or manipulation. Negative states are negative, positive states are positive, and there is no external moral imperative or rule-based thinking happening as in the standard buddhist precepts. The practice is referred to as "self-liberating" because there is no effort or manipulations involved. It requires doing without doing. It is "superior" because it is the most direct path possible, the most efficient use of your time. However, almost everyone will need to become fluent and proficient with the foundation practices of hinayana, mahayana, and vajrayana before they can begin to consider these practices. They are the "highest" because they are the last step, the final teachings.

and yet more net loss!! http://www.cnet.com/how-to/get-kung-fu-panda-free-when-you-buy-something-from-amazon/

your entire life can be explained as an absolutely meaningless blip inside a whirlwind of chaos you have no hope of ever comprehending whatsoever... now, is that the whole truth?

Time is a child — playing like a child — playing a board game — the kingdom of the child. This is Telesphoros, who roams through the dark regions of this cosmos and glows like a star out of the depths. He points the way to the gates of the sun and to the land of dreams. - Carl Jung

Only you can answer this question for yourself. It is a choice, not a necessity. Mother nature and the rest of the world have absolutely no need for you to awaken. Everything will be perfectly fine with the rest of existence no matter what you decide. It is good to regard this seriously because I think many people jump into practices of self-cultivation and awakening in a willy-nilly and quite superficial way, for various common reasons: health, beauty, socializing, etc. But the core of such practice is to bring about a lifestyle which is actually quite radical in comparison to the life of the average person, especially in the modern western world. It is challenging to say the least, but that is the point. If you are at this point where you question the validity of the path, then I would say you are most certainly still not on it. Once you truly begin, there really is no going back - and mostly that has to do with the internal conviction and motivation you receive from your own personal experience, rather than some sort of external rule dealing with doom and gloom (although there may be a bit of that just coming to terms with the reality of death). In other words, you still have a choice in the matter, its not a "do or die" situation for you - which is what happens when you are truly on the path. Yes, if I was you I would take some time to contemplate the decision to further pursue these things. The time for action will come after you are resolved in your decisions, whatever they may be.

There is quite a bit more to actual iron shirt nei gung than that. The problem with modern medical explanations is that they do not have nearly enough understanding about how the human energetic system operates at levels beyond the visible physical form. Yes, the nerves are one of the components, but that is like looking at a footprint and saying you know where the person is and what they look like. The nervous and endocrine systems are an end result of the energetic system. We inhabit a world of energy (infrared, microwave, photonic, etc.) as well as a world of material objects, and the world of energy can be effectively "prior" to the material world in terms of cause and effect due to the properties of energy as opposed to matter. For example, techniques involving fa jing are utilizing the energetic system of the environment as well as the body - most notably the gravitational field of the earth, and sometimes the electro-magnetosphere as well. True masters can actually "borrow" energy from the earth to magnify the expelled force many more times than what is possible using the body alone. It begins with using the body as a whip, but after much practice and internal work, the body is only the point of issue and the foundation of striking power comes from the earth itself. However, such achievements are not necessarily commonplace, and there are of course many pretenders. I suspect your fundamental issue is that you believe mind to be a side effect of brain activity. Whereas in actuality it is the other way around.

This is what Castaneda referred to as the "second attention". He described it in many various ways, in relation to many other various concepts, but the basic idea is the same. However, the why and how of it are described a bit differently:

This talk goes into some detail on the origins of the Kagyu lineage and their understanding and perspective on the vajrayana tradition. http://www.chronicleproject.com/CTRlibrary/Message-of-Milarepa/talk1/publish_to_web/index.html

and then, after many generations of theatrics...

Here's another word for you: "predictable"

Well, I was only posting that as a Public Service Announcement for anyone who isnt already enslaved by this particular belief system. Im not looking to "debate" about Blavatsky. Please, by all means - feel free to blindly follow whatever you wish.

Having an experience of awakening is relatively simple and commonplace in the grand scheme of the Great Work. However, fulfilling the potential which it opens up is a different animal entirely. Even non-cultivators and non-practicioners may have an experience of awakening, although they usually write it off or try to forget about it. Being awake is another story. Its not supported by society for the most part (in fact its more often reviled), so dont expect people to give a shit about it. However the main issue is the re-deployment of all your life's energy into the direction of being awake - as opposed to the direction of mainstream society. This is really no small matter, because even if you make a "decision" to pursue self-cultivation and inner work, you must overcome the conditioning which you have taken on while growing up in our society - not to mention the other psychological issues resulting in reactions to this conditioning, and so forth. Its not like driving a car, more like sailing in a boat. You ride the winds. You may want to say "NO! I want to go in that direction now!!" but the rest of your circumstances may not support it, and in fact it might take a HUGE, MASSIVE amount of effort for you to reclaim and reroute the energy that you currently employ to keep your internal and external status-quo alive. In other words, many years of hard work. Awakened people did not arrive at being awake instantly, all at once, forever. It doesnt work like that. There are cycles and revolutions and openings and closings. There is a transformational process that takes place within time and space in regards to these human bodies. Around here, it is most often referred to in the sense of internal alchemy - however this idea of the Magnum Opus, the Great Work - it is the universal pursuit of life itself. In terms of the human species, their dissonance and lack of alignment with such a universal truth at a global level gives you an indication of the difficulty of such work in this place and time. You have encountered the reality of "free will". This is no small matter. It is akin to the idea of the blue pill and the red pill in the Matrix movies. The old Tiger of Turkestan gave a lecture about this once: The way G uses the idea of a "chair" is not just as a simple symbol. It refers to the resting state. When you decide to embark on the path, the way - you give up your resting state in ignorance and become restless in the search for the real as opposed to the unreal. It is certainly possible to find the real, complete the Great Work, recover the philosopher's stone and have the real rest of nirvana - but it is also possible to remain restless, and never find the real, and thus "die like a dog" as G put it. This is akin to the idea that "ignorance is bliss", because it is. Its not ananda, i.e. real bliss - but its a close enough approximation in the way it "completes" a person. In the indian traditions people are sometimes described as being "awake" to ignorance and "asleep" to reality - whereas the state of samadhi is described as being "awake" to reality and "asleep" to ignorance. However, while journeying between them it is possible to be neither "awake" nor "asleep", and thus have no rest AND no motivation. This is one of the reasons the spiritual path is sometimes considered "dangerous".