rex

I'm sure being connected to a lineage confers protection on a number of levels (assuming you don't make yourself impossible to guard that is).

Me too! Not really record keeping, more like an on-going process of keeping a wheel spinning.

This popped into my mailbox this morning:

Since we spend about a third of our life sleeping dream practices are held to be vitally important in the Vajrayana. Clarity, awareness and presence can all be increased in the various dream states and practice is said to be good training in helping to recognise the dawning of the Clear Light and bardo states at the time of death.

I think everyone, even people who don't do any sort of practice, feels chi. It's as basic as experiencing your own emotions or picking up on the vibes of strangers.

In the Therevadan Buddhist sense an enlightened being is an arahant who due to cultivating quite specfic qualities is no longer subject to the cycle of death and rebirth. In Mahayana Buddhism one term for a buddha is 'awakened one'. There are clear definitions of a buddha's qualities, here's one example (there are others): Qualities of a Buddha's Omnisience.

Sutras from the Pali Cannon: http://www.tipitaka.org/stp-pali-eng-parallel http://www.accesstoinsight.org/index-sutta.html http://www.suttareadings.net/audio/index.html Googling "Pali Canon" will bring up more. :-)

I don't hold to a puritanical view of the natural attraction between the sexes but I can see how misappropriating this attraction can cause problems on a number of levels and that there are different approaches to sexuality depending on one's ability and outlook. While we've got a body sexuality can't be transcended, it's just too fundamental, but it can perhaps be transmuted and become a powerful medicine. To illustrate this point there's the story of the peacock: Taken from here.

What a generous offer this is Wudangquan, thanks :-) I would very much like to hear his heartfelt advice on purifying the heart and mind with perhaps some demonstration of supplementary (or major) exercises that can assist in this process.

I think both Daoism and Buddhism say that there is a danger in sitting and forgetting in that it is possible to rest in a peaceful but dull state mistaking it for realisation. This can lead to rebirth as a ghost immortal in Daoism and as an animal in Buddhism.

Now this is one of the most interesting and informative threads that's come along in a while (still below apepch7's Egyptian threads and articles though). I think it depends if you're from the school of thought that believes that all goddesses are manifestations of the one Primal Goddess that manifests in different ways for different times, places and peoples. If so, then it's purely a matter of faith and sincerity on your part. However it would be prudent to do some research into any goddess that you intend to chant the name of. R J Stewart has a set of audio CDs called Advanced Magical Arts. One of the journeys involves travelling deep into the earth to meet the Goddess. This nearly brought me to tears - really.

Here's a particular and partial list for Buddhism as I'm learning it (not because I'm holding back, but because its all I know): The Four Noble Truths The Noble Eightfold Path The Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Practice The Altruistic Wish for Enlightenment and the Bodhisattva Vow The Six Paramitas Lojong Mind Training The Four Buddhist Seals Buddha's Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma Ground Path and Fruition of the different schools (Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana) All the usual suspects like karma, merit, interdependence, emptiness, compassion and wisdom etc. are included here.

Absolutely wonderful Minkus - thanks! Thanks again! I'm glad one of my posts was actually useful to someone. Now the torch has passed more ably to you. For me just getting to the event seemed a purification in itself in overcoming obstacles - cancelled rail services; experiencing a strong impulse to knock it all on the head; subsequent driving in torrential rain on Europe's biggest carpark, the M25; getting lost; narrowly missing having a nasty accident and getting soaked walking to the venue. So after a five hour journey I finally arrived - hot, tired, hungry and busting for the toilet (I couldn't find one, even at the venue). But funnily enough as soon as I entered the relic room all the hassle dissolved and it was as you so beautifully described.

It could just be a difference in terminology but there are also whole practice traditions based around 'just sitting' and so there are many subtleties, refinements and plain differences. The differences usually revolve around questions on the nature of the self, emptiness and the ultimate fruition of the practice. From my crude understanding stillness meditation is not necessarily emptiness meditation. Stillness meditation can lead to stability of mind where the mind becomes non-stick and spacious, and risings are allowed to come and go on their own accord without conscious intervention or upsetting of mental equilibrium. This stillness and equilibrium is a precursor to experiencing and getting an insight into emptiness i.e. the total fluidity and unconditioned nature of ourselves; or if one follows a monotheistic religion, spiritual communion. Of course stillness could just be used for relaxation and nothing more. Emptiness and stillness are only half the story as we are also energy in constant manifestation. This energy can be worked with through exercises, prayer, mantras etc and combined with stillness or used to go into stillness. Prayers and mantras recited with sincerity from the heart can put one into a state of stillness cutting rapidly through the usual personal bullshit. Er ... um .. that's all I know. [Edited for spelling and clarity]

Thanks for your patient response Scotty. I'm now popping back down below the parapet.

Ooh! Thanks Scotty. Reading about other peoples' experiences they talk of a 'Kunlun worm' inside of them and even if they don't practice, the practice doesn't leave them alone. Does Kunlun involve contact with nagas?

The only prerequisite for positive merit is having a good heart. No formal practice, spiritual or religious belief is required. Merit is a big deal in Buddhism and there are specific practices for gaining merit like Mandala Offerings, but if one's whole underlying ethos to life and practice - on and off the mediation cushion - is altruistic then everything one does generates merit without having to consciously think of cultivating it. It is said that if one genuinely rejoices in the good fortune, merits, virtuous deeds and spiritual practice of others than one also shares in their merit as well.

It is integral to my schedule. I've been taught to follow the maxim, 'good at the beginning, good in the middle, good at the end'. 'Good in the beginning' - start off any practice with a statement of altruistic intent to which the practice may contribute to either directly or indirectly. 'Good in the middle' - Throughout the practice observe appropriate discipline and undistracted effort. This as an opportunity to apply the Six Perfections. 'Good at the end' - Seal the benefit of the practice by dedicating the results to the benefit of all. It feels a bit lame to be quoting one of my posts but to as what merit is and how it's supposed to work there's this speculation: http://www.thetaobums.com/index.php?showto...amp;#entry26347

I think it is literal. It is also such a vast topic that touches on everything: religion, cosmology, magic, alchemy, medicine, martial arts, yoga and psycholgy that it is difficult to know where to begin. Anything in particular in mind?

Hi James, Finding oneself in a setting whose norms may be at odds with spiritual practice sure is a tough call! Gender roles and ideas on what it is to be a bloke hits a lot of people - and badly - judging by the disportionately high suicide rate of young males in the UK. Personally (Oh no! Not another set of taobums book recommendations ) I've found Robert Blys' Iron John and R.J Stewart's Celebrating the Male Mysteries helpful. I suppose there are a number of sources of courage and it varies with individuals, predispositions, circumstances and belief systems. Some of my sources have come from the Tibetan Lojong and 'Turning Happiness and Suffering into Enlightenment' teachings whose value I've discovered by applying under difficult circumstances. Love, compassion, joy and equanmity need not be specific practices to cram into an already full practice schedule. Sure, there are practices to develop these specifically but they can form part of an implicit philosophical orientation against which any practice is done. All practices in Tibetan Buddhism are performed in such a context _/\_ Best, Rex

Hey James! Keep the faith man Whatever inspired you to practice knew full well what you are like when it inspired you in the first place, so despite how things seem right now you're OK. Have you been reciting the Vajrasttava mantra that Santiago ('Hello' if you're reading this btw ) transmitted to you? It's a very powerful mantra that really bring outs the dirt. I remember being intoduced to this practice on retreat and people were crying and quite fragile. I felt completely shit and depressed. The teacher said that when you haven't had a shower for a few thousand years a lot of accumulated dirt comes out. Like a normal shower let the dirt come out and wash down the plug hole so don't identify with these adventitious accumulations. Here's some suggestions to help the dirt continue on down the plug hole instead of drying on your skin (these can apply even if you haven't been practicing the mantra): 1) Cultivate joy that you've actually noticed and are clearing away the seeds of suffering for yourself and others. 2) Cultivate compassion and equanimity for all beings that are suffering from similar afflications as yourself. 3) Cultivate love and pray that just as you deal with your afflictions then so too may all similar afflictions in all beings be cleared. Best, Rex

UK folks or folks visiting the UK in early October might like to check out a tour of Buddhist relics: Heart Shrine Relic Tour Free Entrance: Blessings All Day Dates: 3rd, 4th & 5th October 2008 Venue: Bodhi Garden, 7a Ship Street Gardens, Brighton Friday 7 pm Opening Ceremony, Saturday & Sunday: 10 am - 7 pm each day

Sounds positive to me. There's a purification meditation in the Tibetan tradition where part of it involves visualising physical illness and general nasty gunk that's waiting to manifest as ill health being urinated out as poisoned blood and pus.

I'm going and maybe my kids as well - if they want to go that is, and if my wife will let me take them. Since Brighton is an absolute nightmare for parking and I live north of the Watford Gap I'll be taking the train, preferably Saturday but depending on childrens' activities maybe Sunday. May all be auspicious for you and others to attend.

Yes, enchanting. The granite ones may still be holding the charge from various ceremonies. Granite I believe - like crystal - is supposed to hold energetic signatures. I didn't care for the vibe either. There is a distinct aggrieved air - its a shame the dead and their artifacts couldn't have been left alone. I feel quite a guarded attraction towards Sekhmet, not in the least because she bears more than a striking resemblance to the Tibetan Dakini, Senge Dongma (Simhamukha). The late Robert Masters dedicated much of his life to Sekhmet: http://www.robertmasters.org/sekhmet/1.html Thanks again Apcech7, really good thread. Do you rate the work of Theodor Abt and Erik Hornung? They've produced some finely ilustrated works on the Amduat. Speaking of which I hear that the British Museum is very shortly going to be opening a new room dedicated to Egyptian tomb paintings ...