Apech

So it was photoshopped.

one slip and the end shortest ice-skating final that there's ever been.

This is a difficult subject indeed. It is true that the yidam is a visualised meditation object and so in that sense you can say it is a product of your mind. But then part of the sadhana is to link the deity before you i.e. the one visualised to the the 'existing' one in the buddha-realms (I use 'existing' in a special sense here). So it is not merely a product of ordinary visualisation or effort - if it was it would be useless. To ask if the yidam (Chenrezig or Manjushri for instance) is 'real' or not - is a trick question because in some sense they are more real than 'you' since the 'you' that you normally deal with is just ego. In my experience working with a yidam takes you beyond what you would achieve working from your own effort of concentration and insight. And the the other point is that yidam has access to emptiness - they pop in and out with ease (this is a way of speaking) - so by identification with the yidam you also gain this power plus other associated siddhis. Can Jesus or other non-Buddhist deities be yidams. Technically no. Why because the yidam stands in for the dharma which in essence teaches emptiness and 'liberation through seeing things as they really are'. Did Jesus teach either of these? Not as far as I am aware. In a non technical sense a yidam could be said to be the equivalent of a tutelary deity - in which case any god-form could be a 'yidam' - but this is only a casual way of speaking. For instance if you were to follow and invoke Zeus or Aphrodite then you could gain the benefits and powers of those deities - but would they lead to liberation? Not according to Buddhism no they wouldn't. So they cannot be yidams in that sense. My thoughts.

Photoshop?

Put me off my muesli ... ok let's listen to the stones.

and it's not over till the fat lady sings ...

I'd like to say this about Eric:

Thanks for this. Good to know he's better. He seems like an incredibly intense and gifted person and hopefully the end result will be as good as promised.

I used to follow the development of a crowdsource funded space procedural called Limit Theory - it looked like it was going to be really good - but for unknown reason the single developer stopped posting.

Is it as good as Elite : Dangerous?

Ice wall!!!!!

Found this other version which is better but lacks the visual appeal of the former.

You post these videos - try analysing them yourself.

The lens of the camera.

Are they real ... answers on a postcard ...

Well its totally up to you to decide of course - but to conceptualise your practice as being about no-thought is a dead end. So either abandon it as a goal or even if you keep it as a goal - forget it.

and still eat a peach even though the tree still bears its perfect blossom.

Forget no-thought.

Ants in your pants.

Assad supported by Russia will crush Isis - making us think he who was a bad thing is not so bad after all. In a way it's preferable to continued war or Isis victory. Maybe? But it does make the whole thing seem quite pointless. Which it is.

It'll soon all be Assad's again - and we can all start over.

Yeah where's Imhotep when you need him?

I was thinking the end of king Djoser's reign in 2611 B.C. was the beginning of a downward slide.

Incest is worse.